Survey of the Impact of Myocardial Infarction on Patients’ Quality of Life: A Single-Centre Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: A heart attack is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases, affecting different dimensions of the patients’ quality of life due to the disease’s disabling and limiting nature. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of myocardial infarction on patients’ quality of life referring to the Shahid Madani Medical & Training Hospital, in East Azerbaijan Province in 2017, in Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 220 patients with a heart attack were selected in this study. Sampling was conducted using the systematic random method. Data were collected using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean) and statistical analyses (Mann-Whitney test, Spearman correlation, and Generalized Linear Models Regression) were performed at a significance level of P-value < 0.05 using SPSS22. Results: In this study, the mean score of the total effect of a heart attack on the patients’ quality of life was 30.09 ± 17.73. The mean score of the effect of a heart attack on the patient’s quality of life in the physical, emotional, and general subscales was 34.85 ± 24.24, 26.63 ± 27.73, and 27.51 ± 17.83, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between education status (P-value = 0.006), income status (P- value = 0.000), and the mean score of the effect of a heart attack on the patient’s quality of life; also a positive and significant correlation was found between age (CC = 0.135, P-value = 0.046), the number of hospitalization (CC = 0.187, P-value = 0.006) and the mean score of the effect of a heart attack on the patient’s quality of life. Conclusion: A heart attack has a considerable impact on the patients’ quality of life, particularly on the physical dimension. Hence, health professionals should pay more attention to these vulnerable groups and offer rehabilitation services suitable to these groups to reduce the impact of the disease.