Quality of Life in heart failure patients referred to the Kerman outpatient centers, 2010

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome which may have causes negative effects on quality of life. Nowadays, improvement of quality of life in these patients has become as an objective and a part of treatment programs that is a useful direction for promotion of care quality. It is necessary for nurses to gain essential knowledge to improve the patient’s quality of life. The aim of this research was to study the quality of life in heart failure patients referred to the Kerman Outpatient Centers. This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 200 patients (100 men and 100woman) suffered from heart failure who were referred to the outpatient centers in Kerman. Samples were selected by purposive method. Short From heath survey 36 items (SF36) was used for studding the quality of life. Data were analyzed using Chi- square, independent t-test and ANOVA. Findings showed that the patients mean age was 64 years and most of them were in the second degree of heart failure. The quality of life score was found 42.36 in men and it was 40.65 in women (P>0.05). The comparison of quality of life dimensions in women and men showed that physical function (P=0.005) and mental health (P=0.01) was significantly higher in men than women. The results indicated that the heart failure patients had poor quality of life and the women have weaker physical function and worse mental health than men. Therefore, controlling some amendable variables among these patients is suggested.