Anxiety specific to atrial fibrillation, symptom frequency and severity, and NYHA functional class were the most common factors associated with lower health-related quality of life in AF patients.
Monitoring and assessing AF-specific anxiety and symptom severity is vital for improving health-related quality of life in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, the factors influencing HRQoL in patients with AF are not well understood. The purpose of integrative review was to investigate the factors affecting HRQoL in patients with AF based on the six domains of Ferrans and colleagues' HRQoL model. A total of 23 relevant articles published between January 2000 and March 2018 were identified using four databases and analyzed in this study. Our review showed that the HRQoL in patients with AF was consistently lower than both healthy individuals and patients with other cardiovascular diseases. The most common factor associated with HRQoL in patients with AF was anxiety-specific to AF in the symptoms domain, followed by frequency and severity of symptoms and the New York Heart Association functional class. This study highlights that monitoring and assessing patients' symptoms is vital for improving HRQoL in patients with AF. Disease-specific and cross-culturally validated tools can allow healthcare professionals to provide tailored interventions for patients with AF.
Son et al. (Thu,) conducted a review in Atrial fibrillation. Factors affecting HRQoL (e.g., anxiety, symptom severity) vs. Healthy individuals and patients with other cardiovascular diseases was evaluated on Health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Anxiety specific to atrial fibrillation, symptom frequency and severity, and NYHA functional class were the most common factors associated with lower health-related quality of life in AF patients.