Impact of Self-Management Behavior on Heart Failure Patients’ Quality of Life: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to investigate the variables that significantly affect heart failure patients’ quality of life, and particularly, to identify the impact of self-management behavior on the quality of life. MethodsThis retrospective study used heart failure patients’ data from cardiovascular outpatient clinics at two tertiary medical centers in Korea. We enrolled 119 patients who completed echocardiography and stress tests and responded to questionnaires on self-management behavior and quality of life. We collected more data on general and disease-related characteristics and anthropometric and serum blood test results through electronic medical record review. We analyzed data using the classification and regression tree to explore the influencing factors and their characteristics in patients with high and low quality of life. ResultsPatients’ mean age was 74.61 years, and women represented 52.1% of the sample. It showed that the cardiac systolic function (β = 0.26, p = .013) and self-management behavior (β = 0.20, p = .048) were two major influential factors on heart failure patients’ quality of life. Therefore, HF patients’ self-management behavior is a significant modifiable factor that can improve their quality of life.ConclusionsHealthcare providers should be aware of the importance of heart failure patients’ self-management and help promote their quality of life by enhancing their self-management behavior.