Research Articles

2019  |  Vol: 5(5)  |  Issue: 5(September- October)  |  https://doi.org/10.31024/ajpp.2019.5.5.27

Assessment of quality of life and its association with disease severity and nutritional status in heart failure

Chandana Naliganti¹, Raghuram Rao Akkinepally¹, Chandrasekhar Valupadas²

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kakatiya University, Telangana, India.

²Department of General Medicine, Kakatiya Medical College, Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, Warangal, Telangana, India.

*Address for Corresponding Author

Chandrasekhar Valupadas,

Professor, Department of General Medicine, Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, Telangana- 506009, India

Abstract

Objective: Heart failure (HF) affects quality of life (QoL) more profoundly than other chronic diseases resulting in increased disability and mortality. Investigations which include assessment of QoL and nutritional status using questionnaire if implemented could effectively improve HF outcomes. The study focuses on the association of QoL with severity of the disease, and nutrition in HF. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in forty eight HF patients of a teaching hospital. The QoL was assessed using Minessota living with HF (MLwHF) and Left Ventricular Dysfunction-36 (LVD-36) questionnaires; and nutritional status was examined using Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). All the obtained scores were interpreted and presented as percentages and association of variables was measured statistically using Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Results: In a total of 48 HF patients 60.42% were men and 39.58% were women. The mean age of men of women were found to be 56.41 ± 13.08 years and 55.89 ± 8.379 years respectively with a significant difference (p=0.0001). Quality of Life assessed using MLwHF and LVD-36 has positive correlation with age (MLwHF r=0.1376; LVD-36 r=0.221), HF severity and negatively correlated with nutritional status (MLwHF r=-0.6382; LVD-36 r=-0.6523). Conclusion: Quality of life is an important patient outcome measure, if adequately addressed and treated accordingly could prevent frequent hospitalisations thus reducing disability and mortality rate in HF.

Keywords: Heart failure, quality of life, nutrition