Quality of life of elderly men and women with ischemic heart disease

Abstract

Type of funding sources: None. The purpose. To study quality of life and emotional status of elderly men and women with ischemic heart disease (IHD).  Methods. The first group  - 79 elderly  (60 years and older) men with IHD  (average age 64.81 ± 0.5 years) and the second group  - 46 elderly women with IHD  (average age 64.2 ± 0.5 years) were examined. All patients of the first and second group had the angina pectoris (II-IV functional class). A level of quality of life was estimated by Seattle Angina Questionnaire of quality of life (SAQ). A level of anxiety and the depression were examined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), personality characteristics - by the Mini-Mult questionnaire - short form MMPI questionnaire. Results. The groups did not differ in class of angina pectoris and treatment. The quality of life in the 1st and 2nd group was accordingly 56.2 ± 1.9 and 48.1 ± 1.6 score on Physical limitation scale (p < 0.05), 44.4 ± 2.3 and  44.8 ± 3.7 score on Angina stability scale (p > 0.05), 54.9 ± 2.6 and 57.8 ± 3.3 score on Angina frequency scale (p > 0.05), 66.8 ± 1.4 and  62.4 ± 1.9 score on Treatment satisfaction scale (p > 0.05), 54.6 ± 1.6 and 49.7 ± 2.2 score on Disease perception scale (p > 0.05), 57.2 ± 1.3 and 52.6 ± 1.5 score on Total score scale of quality of life (p < 0.05).  The patients of 1st group had level of anxiety 6.8 ± 0.4 score and level of depression  5.3 ± 0.4 score accordingly. The patients of 2nd group had  accordingly 9.2 ± 0.5 score (p < 0.01) level of anxiety and 7.2 ± 0,4 score (p < 0.05)  level of depression. The patients of 1st and 2nd group  had such personality characteristics accordingly: on scale of Hypochondriasis – 55.5 ± 0.7 and 61.9 ± 1.2 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Depression – 48.7 ± 1.1 and 59.2 ± 1.4 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Hysteria – 51.0 ± 0.6 and 58.9 ± 0.8 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Psychopathic Deviate – 44.3 ± 1.2  and 50.3 ± 1.5 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Paranoia – 51.5 ± 1.4 and 59.8 ± 1.9 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Psychasthenia – 46.8 ± 1.2 and 55.8 ± 1.5 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Schizophrenia – 46.9 ± 1.1 and 56.5 ± 1.6 T-score (p < 0.01); on scale of Hypomania – 45.5 ± 1.9 and 52.9 ± 1.7 T-score (p < 0.01). Conclusion. The elderly women with ischemic heart with disease had worse quality of life  and more expressed accentuated personality characteristics and higher  levels of anxiety and depression, in comparison with elderly men. The revealed features of quality of life,  personality characteristics and emotional status of  elderly patients with ischemic heart with disease have to be considered in treatment and rehabilitation.