Physical and emotional symptom burden of patients with end-stage heart failure: what to measure, how and why

Abstract

General discomfort together with depression and anxiety were the symptoms that were mostly related with the physical limitation domain of global health status, but did not influence the social functioning and the self-efficacy domains. When ESAS is used together with KCCQ, comprehensive and quantitative information on a patient's physical, emotional and social distress is provided.

Examining the Effects of an Outpatient Palliative Care Consultation on Symptom Burden, Depression, and Quality of Life in Patients With Symptomatic Heart Failure

“…10,11 Participants were asked to rate the severity of 9 individual symptoms: pain, fatigue, drowsiness, nausea, anxiety, depression, appetite, dyspnea, and sense of well-being, on a 0–10 numeric scale (0 = no symptom at all; 10 = symptom worst possible). 19 An overall symptom distress score (ESAS) was computed by summing the score for all 9 items (range 0–90); higher scores reflected worse symptom burden.…”

Attitude towards knowledge of the disease and psychological characteristics of patients with systolic heart failure

“…On the other hand, health psychology suggests that some patients may perceive their disease (all related knowledge and understanding regarding the consequences including the awareness of the nearness of death) as an additional source of burden and anxiety (Miller, 1995;Case, Andrews, Johnson, & Allard, 2005;Timmermans, van Zuuren, van der Maazen, Leer, & Kraaimaat, 2007). As HF is a terminal disease, a patient with HF may also experience such emotions (Opasich et al, 2008). As a result some patients may purposely avoid any knowledge and understanding of their disease.…”

Psychological aspects of heart failure – beyond depression, anxiety and quality of life

“…3396 subjects with coronary artery disease and 513 subjects after acute myocardial infarction (Moser et al, 2009). In patients with HF, augmented anxiety (STAI), considered as a psychological trait, was most prominent in an advanced NYHA class (F = 6.70, p = .010) (Majani et al, 1999), and in patients with end-stage HF anxiety (STAI) was related to derangements within the physical limitation domain of global health status (ESAS) (Opasich et al, 2008).…”