Relationship between physical performance and health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure

Introduction and objectives

This study aims to describe relationship between physical performance (PP) and health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF).

Methods

This study used a cross-sectional design for data collection. Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was used as a measurement tool, while the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST) was used to assess PP. The data were processed by Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, one-way ANOVAs, and Hierarchical multiple regression.

Results

A total of 180 patients with HF participated in this study, with the mean age of respondents being 59.98 (11.86) years old. Among these respondents, 60% were male, with a mean PP of 9.56 (6.94) s and a mean MLHFQ of 43.14 (20.74). The results showed that MLHFQ had a significant correlation with HF medication (r = .16, P < .05), health status (r = .24, P < .01), FTSST (r = .40, P < .01), and MLHFQ was significantly associated with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Classification (F = 8.358, P < .001). There were three variables identified as predictors of MLHFQ, namely health status (β = −2.22), NYHA Class III (β = 1.27), and FTSST (β = 3.03), and were predicted to account for 31.1% of the variance in MLHFQ.

Conclusions

Efforts to increase PP from patients with HF can be an asset to improve health-related quality of life. Furthermore, health status and NYHA classifications are factors that can significantly affect health-related quality of life of patients with HF.