Supervisors info:
Δημήτριος Τούσουλης,Καθηγητής καρδιολογίας,ΕΚΠΑ
Ελένη Κυρίτη,Καθηγήτρια,ΤΕΙ Αθήνας
Κωνσταντίνος Τούτουζας,Καθηγητής,ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: Patients with Heart Failure suffer from a variety of health problems. Except the exhausting symptoms, patients are admitted in hospitals very often and are financially burdened to a large extent. They face many changes and difficulties in their everyday life, which leads to a decreasing quality of life.
Aim: The aim of this study is to correlate the intensity of fatigue that heart failure patients suffer, with their quality of life.
Material – Method: The sample was taken from “Hippocratio” General Hospital of Athens. It is consisted from 120 patients and it took place from March 2016 to July 2016. The data were collected by the participants of the study filling in the Minnesota questionnaire and the fatigue scale Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) and the Multidimentional Fatigue Symptom Inventory – Short Form (MFSI-SF). The statistical analyses were conducted with SPSS 19.0 statistical program and the statistical tests ANOVA, t – test and the linear regression analysis. Statistically significant is the significant level 0.05.
Results: From the 120 participants, 72,5% were men. 70,8% were married and 36,7% had higher educational stage, 35% had secondary educational stage and 28,3% had primary educational stage. Fatigue in association with the burden from having heart failure were positively correlated, p<0,001. Higher levels of fatigue and lower vigor levels are associated with significantly greater burden from having the disease, p<0,001.Participants with a higher education, had better physical health, less burdened by heart failure, than the graduates with primary education, p<0,001. Patients with NYHA Class III and IV are more affected by the disease, in contrast to Class I and II patients, p<0,001.
Conclusions: The quality of life of patients with heart failure is affected by fatigue levels, as well as social, financial and clinical factors. Some of these factors are the educational stage, age, the Heart Failure NYHA Class, the years passed from the first diagnose and the frequency of Health Services use. These patients must be monitored by groups of health scientists, so that their physical and psychological problems are discovered on time and are treated with the proper care.
