A survey of 201 patients with chronic heart failure found that younger patients more often believed CHF is curable, whereas patients with severe CHF more often considered it incurable.
Cross-Sectional (n=201)
No
How do patients with chronic heart failure perceive their disease and comply with nonpharmacological recommendations?
Patients with chronic heart failure, particularly younger ones and those with mild disease, have significant knowledge gaps regarding the nature of their disease and the importance of lifestyle changes.
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to gain a deeper insight into patients' perception of chronic heart failure (CHF) symptoms by analyzing their compliance with nonpharmacological recommendations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Lord's Transfiguration, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, and had been diagnosed with CHF at least 3 months prior to inclusion. Participants were divided according to New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class into mild CHF (NYHA I and II) and severe CHF (NYHA III and IV), and according to age into young (70 years). The survey included information about the patients' sex, age, education, length of the illness and 12 questions about their perception of CHF. This study included 201 patients. The mean age was 58±15 years. RESULTS: The younger the patients, the more often they thought that CHF is curable. The patients presenting with severe CHF tended to think that CHF is incurable significantly more often than those with mild CHF. Most of the patients considered loss of appetite, cough and vomiting the least alarming symptoms. Significantly more patients with severe CHF exercised less and reported reduced sexual activity more often in comparison to the mild CHF patients. Most of the young patients reported no changes to their sexual activity, body mass index (BMI) or exercise after diagnosis of CHF. Most of the old patients exercised less than before diagnosis of CHF. Significantly more middle-aged patients reduced their BMI, quit smoking and reported lower sexual activity after diagnosis of CHF in comparison to the other groups. CONCLUSION: Patients need to be better educated about the nature of CHF and the importance of lifestyle changes.
Płotka et al. (Tue,) conducted a cross-sectional in chronic heart failure (CHF) (n=201). Patient knowledge and perception of chronic heart failure was evaluated on Perception of CHF symptoms and compliance with nonpharmacological recommendations. A survey of 201 patients with chronic heart failure found that younger patients more often believed CHF is curable, whereas patients with severe CHF more often considered it incurable.