Perceived sexual difficulties and associated factors in patients with heart failure

Hoekstra, Tialda; Jaarsma, Tiny; Sanderman, Robbert; Veldhuisen, Dirk J. van; Lesman‐Leegte, Ivonne

doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2011.10.011

Cited by 49 publications

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References 26 publications

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“…This limited implementation of sexual counseling in practice may rightfully be called a concern, because a considerable number of HF patients experience sexual difficulties which have a negative effect on their own quality of life and that of their partners. 6,17 Patients worry about resuming sexual activity and are in need of education and counseling on the topic of sexual health. 1,2 Furthermore, previous research has shown that patients also experience barriers to initiating this topic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What keeps nurses from the sexual counseling of patients with heart failure?

et al. 2012

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OBJECTIVES: We sought to examine the current practice of discussing sexual health by heart failure (HF) nurses, and to explore which barriers prevent nurses from discussing sexuality. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMETHODS: The Nurses Survey of Sexual Counseling of Myocardial Infarction Patients and a list of barriers were used to form a questionnaire, which was sent to all HF clinics (n = 122) in the Netherlands. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanRESULTS: The majority (75%) of nurses (n = 146) felt a certain responsibility to discuss patients sexual health. However, in practice, 61% of the nurses rarely or never addressed sexuality. Barriers that prevented nurses from addressing sexuality and that differed between nurses who do (n = 58) and do not (n = 88) discuss sexuality include a lack of organizational policy (49% vs. 79%, respectively; P andlt; .001) and lack of training (43% vs. 80%, respectively; P andlt; .001), and not knowing how to initiate the subject (24% vs. 72%, respectively; P andlt; .001). Nurses preferred to address sexuality during a follow-up visit or when discussing medication. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanCONCLUSIONS: Although HF nurses feel responsible for discussing sexuality, this topic is rarely addressed in clinics. Several barriers were identified, relating to personal, patient, and organizational factors.

Funding Agencies|Netherlands Heart Foundation|081201/KI/RW/DM|

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What keeps nurses from the sexual counseling of patients with heart failure?

et al. 2012

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Funding Agencies|Netherlands Heart Foundation|081201/KI/RW/DM|

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“…Patients with HF may report a decrease in sexual performance, a loss of sexual pleasure or satisfaction, a decrease of sexual interest, and a decrease in the frequency of sex 1, 2, 3, 4. For a lot of HF patients, sexual health is important, with 52% of the men and 38% of the women with HF reporting that sex was important and sexual health was impacting their quality of life 5, 6…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual function of patients with heart failure: facts and numbers

Jaarsma

2016

ESC Heart Failure

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Approximately 60% to 87% of patients with heart failure (HF) report sexual problems, and numbers as low as 31% of HF patients younger than 70 have normal sexual function. When compared with healthy elders, the amount of perceived sexual dysfunction might be similar (around 56%), but patients with HF are reporting more erectile dysfunction (ED) and also perceive that their HF symptoms (20%) or HF medication (10%) is the cause for their problems. The prevalence of ED is highly prevalent in men with cardiac disease and reported in up to 81% of cardiac patients, compared with 50% in the general older population. In total 25–76% of women with HF report sexual problems or concerns.The physical effort related to sexual activity in cardiac patients can be compared to mild to moderate physical activity. The related energy expenditure of sexual activity falls in the range of three to five metabolic units (METs), which can be compared to the energy needed to climb three flights of stairs, general housework, or gardening.Information about sexual activity is often overlooked by health care professionals treating HF patients. Advice and counselling about this subject are needed to decrease worries of patients and partners, avoid skipping medication because of fear for side effects, or prevent inappropriate use of potency enhancing drugs or herbs.

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“…21,23 Symptoms in patients with HF can disappear spontaneously or return, but if they continue over time they can cause a feeling of distress and trigger hospitalization. [21][22][23] Health-related quality of life is described as being poor in patients with HF. 77,78 Greater number of symptoms in patients with HF has been found to be associated with the decrease in quality of life.…”

Section: -74mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patients in the group with high thirst intensity did not have higher thirst distress at the baseline compared to those with low thirst intensity (21 [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] an outpatient clinic at baseline and the study end (III) and in patients at hospital admission, at discharge, two and four weeks after discharge (IV). …”

Section: Thirst Distressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11,20 Thirst was a sec-other symptoms can change over time and that knowledge about influencing factors can be targeted for interventions. [21][22][23] There are several issues that need to be studied in order to increase knowledge about thirst in patients with HF. There is no research regarding the prevalence of thirst in patients with HF and the information about thirst distress is limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thirst in Patients with Heart Failure : Description of thirst dimensions and associated factors with thirst

Waldréus

2016

Linköping University Medical Dissertations

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Introduction: Nurses and other health care professionals meet patients with heart failure (HF) who report they are thirsty. Thirst is described by the patients as a concern, and it is distressing. Currently there are no standardized procedures to identify patients with increased thirst or to help a patient to manage troublesome thirst and research in the area of thirst is scarce. In order to prevent and relieve troublesome thirst more knowledge is needed on how thirst is experienced and what factors cause increased thirst. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to describe the thirst experience of patients with HF and describe the relationship of thirst with physiologic, psychologic and situational factors. The goal was to contribute to the improvement of the care by identifying needs and possible approaches to prevent and relieve thirst in patients with HF. Methods: The studies in this thesis used a cross-sectional design (Study I) and prospective observational designs (II-IV). Studies include data from patients with HF who were admitted to the emergency department for deterioration in HF (I, IV) or visited an outpatient HF clinic for worsening of HF symptoms (III); others were patients who were following up after HF hospitalization (II), and patients with no HF diagnosis who sought care at the emergency department for other illness (I). Patients completed questionnaires on thirst intensity, thirst distress, HF self-care behaviour, feeling depressive and feeling anxious. Data on sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, pharmacological treatment and prescribed fluid restriction were retrieved from hospital medical records and by asking the patients. Data were also collected from blood, urine and saliva samples to measure biological markers of dehydration, HF severity and stress. Results: Thirst was prevalent in 1 out of 5 patients (II) and 63% of patients with worsening of HF symptoms experienced moderate to severe thirst distress at hospital admission (IV). Patients at an outpatient HF clinic who reported thirst at the first visit were more often thirsty at the follow-up visits compared to patients who did not report thirst at the first visit (II). Thirst intensity was significantly higher in patients hospitalized with decompensated HF compared to patients with no HF (median 75 vs. 25 mm, visual analogue scale [VAS] 0-100 mm; P < 0.001) (I). During optimization of pharmacological treatment of HF, thirst intensity increased in 67% of the patients. Thirst intensity increased significantly more in patients in the high thirst intensity group compared to patients in the low thirst intensity group (median +18 mm vs. -3 mm; P < 0.001) (III). Patients who were admitted to the hospital with high thirst distress continued to have high thirst distress over time (IV). A large number of patients were bothered by thirst and feeling dry in the mouth when they were thirsty (III, IV). Patients with a fluid restriction had high thirst distress over time and patients who were feeling depressed had high thirst intensity over time...

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Perceived sexual difficulties and associated factors in patients with heart failure

Cited by 49 publications

References 26 publications

What keeps nurses from the sexual counseling of patients with heart failure?

What keeps nurses from the sexual counseling of patients with heart failure?

Sexual function of patients with heart failure: facts and numbers

Thirst in Patients with Heart Failure : Description of thirst dimensions and associated factors with thirst

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