Health-related Quality of Life of Elderly Men and Women After a Heart Attack

The most common aging change is increased arteriosclerosis, which can prone the elderly to heart attacks. Physiological and psychological changes deteriorate the health-related quality of life (QoL) of the survivors of heart attacks. However, gender differences may affect the health-related QoL of the survivors. The present study aimed to compare the health-related QoL of elderly men and women after a heart attack in selected educational-therapeutic centers of Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2020.

This was a cross-sectional study with descriptive comparative design conducted on 196 elderly patients (98 men and 98 women in each group) who were referred to the heart clinics of selected educational-therapeutic centers of Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran in 2020. The subjects were selected through continuous sampling. Data were collected by abbreviated mental test (AMT) and MacNew Heart Disease health-related QoL (HRQoL) questionnaire and analyzed by Chi-square test, independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression using SPSS software, version 26. The significance level was set at P≤0.05.

The Mean±SD age of elderly women and men was 72.59±7.87 and 69.6±8.24 years, respectively. The Mean±SD health-related QoL of the elderly women was 3.89±0.58 and that of elderly men was 4.16±0.82. The results of the independent t-test showed that the scores of health-related QoL and its dimensions were significantly higher in men than in women (P<0.001). The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient revealed a negative and significant correlation between age and health-related QoL in elderly men (r=-0.253, P=0.012). The results of simultaneous multiple linear regression revealed that 26.8% of the changes in men’s health-related QoL were explained by their individual characteristics.

Considering the lower health-related QoL of women compared to men after a heart attack, more support for women after a heart attack seems necessary. Further research is also recommended to find out the causes of this difference.