Health-Related Quality of Life in Women with Coronary Artery Disease

BACKGROUND: Women with coronary artery disease (CAD) have reported worse health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than men. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore HRQOL in women with CAD undergoing coronary angiography. Specifically, the effects of age and depressive symptoms on HRQOL were examined. METHOD: Data were obtained from the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) database. A total of 1034 women underwent coronary angiography between February, 2004 and January, 2005. Questionnaires measuring HRQOL and depressive symptoms were mailed within 1 week of index cardiac catheterization. RESULTS: There were 437 women (42.3%) who responded to the questionnaires. After adjusting HRQOL scores for sociodemographic and clinical variables, depressive symptoms were the strongest predictor of HRQOL; increased age was associated with worse physical functioning and positive disease perception; higher BMI with anginal stability; revascularization with anginal stability and treatment satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Overall, the variables measured accounted for a small proportion of the variance in HRQOL. Further research is needed to understand the complex relationship among age, depressive symptoms, and HRQOL in women with CAD.