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Background Virtually all patients with heart failure experience multiple symptoms simultaneously, yet clinicians and researchers usually consider symptoms in isolation. Recognizing and responding early to escalating symptoms is essential to preventing hospitalizations in heart failure, yet patients have considerable difficulty recognizing symptoms. Identification of symptom clusters could improve symptom recognition, but cultural differences may be present that must be considered. Objectives To identify and compare symptom clusters in heart failure patients from the United States, Europe and Asia. Design Cross-sectional, observational study. Settings In- and out-patient settings in three regions of the world: Asia (i.e., China and Taiwan); Europe (i.e., the Netherlands and Sweden); and the United States. Participants A total of 720 patients with confirmed heart failure. Propensity scoring using New York Heart Association Classification was used to match participants from each of the three regions. Methods Symptoms were identified using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire. To identify symptom clusters we used cluster analysis with the hierarchical cluster agglomerative approach. We used the Euclidean distance to measure the similarity of variables. Proximity between groups of variables was measured using Ward’s method. The resulting clusters were displayed with dendrograms, which show the proximity of variables to each other on the basis of semi-partial R-squared scores. Results There was a core group of symptoms that formed two comparable clusters across the countries. Dyspnea, difficulty in walking or climbing, fatigue/increased need to rest, and fatigue/low energy were grouped into a cluster, which was labeled as a physical capacity symptom cluster. Worrying, feeling depressed, and cognitive problems were grouped into a cluster, which was labeled as an emotional/cognitive symptom cluster. The symptoms of edema and trouble sleeping were variable among the countries and fell into different clusters. Conclusion Despite the diversity in cultures studied, we found that symptoms clustered similarly among the cultural groups. Identification of similar symptoms clusters among patients with heart failure may improve symptom recognition in both patients and healthcare providers.

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Objectives To identify the gender differences in self-care maintenance and its associations among chronic heart failure patients using the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model. Methods Two hundred and ten patients (54.0% female) with chronic heart failure participated in this cross-sectional study. Self-care, knowledge of heart failure, social support and illness perception were measured using the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, the questionnaire of heart failure knowledge, the Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire, respectively. Results Mean scores for self-care maintenance were 51.4 ± 14.8 in men and 55.6 ± 14.1 in women ( t = −2.066, P < 0.05). Associated factors of self-care maintenance were social support and self-care confidence in men and the knowledge of heart failure, self-care management and self-care confidence in women. The relationship between social support and self-care maintenance was meditated by self-care confidence in men, whereas the relationship between knowledge of heart failure and self-care maintenance was meditated by self-care management and self-care confidence in women. Conclusions Self-care maintenance were inadequate in both genders with chronic heart failure. Interventions for enhancing social support and self-care confidence in men patients, and strengthening knowledge of heart failure, self-care management and self-care confidence in women patients, may facilitate self-care maintenance.