Investigation of Dyspnea and Quality of Life in Patients with Heart Failure

Abstract

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was planned to investigate dyspnea and quality of life in patients with heart failure and affecting factors. The study was carried out with 143 patients who applied to a City Hospital in Istanbul with the diagnosis of heart failure between November 01, 2019 and April 30, 2020. The data of the study were collected using a “Patient Information Form”, the “Left Ventricular Dysfunction Scale”, and the “Basal Dyspnea Index Scale”. Shapiro–Wilk test, independent groups t test, Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis, Pearson correlation as well as descriptive methods (mean, Standard deviation, frequency) were used in the NCSS (Number Cruncher Statistical System) 2007 (Kaysville, Utah, USA) program for the analysis of data. Analysis, KR-20 and Cronbach’s alpha were used. Statistical significance was accepted as p<0.05. The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 75.6 ± 12.31 years, and 53.8% of them were women, 64.3% of them had NYHA IV class in heart failure classification. It was determined that the mean score of the patients on the Left Ventricular Dysfunction Scale was 92.72 ± 10.83, and the mean score on the Basal Dyspnea Index was 2.00 ± 2.45. As the education level of the patients increased, their quality of life increased. As the severity of heart failure of the patients increased, their quality of life deteriorated. In our study, the presence of hypertension disease adversely affected the quality of life. As the severity of heart failure of the patients increases, the severity of dyspnea increases. Presence of diabetes reduces the severity of dyspnea. Following the diet increases the severity of dyspnea and decreases the BDI scores. There was a statistically significant negative correlation at the level of 0.206 (weak) between the BDI scores of the patients and the number of drugs they used (r=−0.206, p=0.014). The severity of dyspnea worsened as the number of daily drugs used by the patients increased. There was a statistically significant negative correlation at the level of 0.599 (moderate) between the BDI scores of the patients and their LVD-36 scores (r=−0.599, p<0.001). As the severity of dyspnea increased, the quality of life deteriorated. In conclusion, it is recommended that nurses evaluate individual care planning, quality of life, and dyspnea severity with validity scales in order to improve the quality of life of patients with HF and reduce the severity of dyspnea.