Quality of Life in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease: Survey using SF-12

The purpose of this study was to investigate patients’ quality of life (QOL) for ischemic heart disease using the SF-12. We studied the QOL of 85 inpatients diagnosed with IHD between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021, at the Mie Heart Center. The three QOL scores representing physical (PCS), mental (MCS), and role/social (RCS) aspects were calculated, and their relationship with patient background was investigated. Higher scores indicate better QOL. Seventy-four of the 85 patients were included in the analysis, and 11 were excluded. Forty-nine (66％) were men and 25 (34％) were women with a mean age of 70 ± 10 years; RCS was significantly lower in women than in men (P = 0.008). PCS was significantly lower in patients with effort angina pectoris than in the other patient groups (P < 0.001). PCS was also significantly lower among obese subjects (P = 0.049), while MCS was significantly lower among diabetic subjects (P = 0.017). Regarding medication use, PCS was significantly lower in the group using nitrates, β-blockers, and diuretics than in the group not using them (P < 0.001, P = 0.015, P = 0.004, respectively), and MCS was significantly lower in the group using diabetes medication (P = 0.042). The multivariate analysis showed that the factors influencing QOL were age, sex, nitrate use, medication adherence, and diabetes complications. Since the QOL of patients with IHD depends on the medications they take and their condition, treatment approaches that also take QOL into account are needed.