Functional Status and Depression among Men and Women with Congestive Heart Failure

OBJECTIVE: The study was designed 1) to examine the prevalence of depression in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF); 2) to explore associations between the physician's rating of functional status (NYHA class) and patient's assessment of functional status (physical limitation, dyspnea) with symptoms of depression; and 3) to explore gender related differences in relation to physician's rating and patient's rating of function status, and symptoms of depression. METHOD: A sample of 119 clinically stable heart failure patients (85 males and 34 females) was recruited from an outpatient cardiology hospital practice. The patients underwent a physical examination and completed a set of questionnaires. Prevalence of depressive symptoms and the association of these symptoms with NYHA class and patient's perceived functional status was studied. RESULTS: Findings indicate that depressive symptoms were not predominant among this sample of CHF patients. Path analyses showed non-significant direct associations between NYHA class as well as patient's perception of dyspnea with depression. In contract, the subjective indicator of physical limitations was strongly associated with symptoms of depression among the males, but this relation was not significant among the females. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that men and women respond differently to the burden of heart failure. However, interpretation of the results from the present study should be considered as tentative and additional research is required to examine mechanisms that explain gender differences in response to heart failure.