title: Frailty syndrome and self-care ability in elderly patients with heart failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic heart failure is a serious medical condition. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in frailty syndrome and self-care levels among patients with cardiovascular conditions. Demonstrating the influence of frailty syndrome on self-care could improve the quality of self-care and prevent the adverse effects of frailty syndrome. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of frailty syndrome on the self-care capabilities of patients with chronic heart failure, and to identify factors associated with frailty.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were collected between January and July 2014. The study included 110 patients with chronic heart failure who were hospitalized in the cardiology clinic. Frailty syndrome was assessed using the Tilburg Frailty Indicator, a self-report questionnaire, and self-care behavior was assessed using the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-four percent of the study patients were male and 46% were female. The mean age was 66±11 years, the mean Tilburg Frailty Indicator score was 7.45±3.02 points, and the mean self-care level was 27.6±7.13 points. Correlation analyses showed that patients with higher scores in the social components of the frailty scale had better self-care capabilities. Frailty was associated with age, education, duration of heart failure, number of hospitalizations, and New York Heart Association class. The effects of these patient characteristics differed across components of frailty (physical, psychological, social).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The social components of frailty syndrome adversely affect the ability to self-care in elderly patients with heart failure. It is relevant to use a multidimensional measurement of frailty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nursing, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Izabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Uchmanowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nursing, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wleklik
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Sports and Social Work, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands ; Zonnehuisgroep Amstelland, Amstelveen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robbert J J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gobbens
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: frailty syndrome; heart failure; self-care