Health-related quality of life in patients after the acute myocardial infarction

• Published in: Central European journal of medicine Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 266 - 272
• Main Authors: Rancic, Natasa K, Petrovic, Branislav D, Apostolovic, Svetlana R, Kocic, Biljana N, Ilic, Mirko V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Versita 01.04.2013; Versita; Walter de Gruyter GmbH; De Gruyter
• Subjects: Acute myocardial infarction; Biomedicine; Health-related quality of life; Internal Medicine; Maternal and Child Health; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Reproductive Medicine; Research Article; Surgery; Acute myocardial infarction; Health-related quality of life
• ISSN: 1895-1058; 2391-5463; 1644-3640; 2391-5463
• DOI: 10.2478/s11536-012-0118-5

Introduction Acute myocardial infarction has a negative impact on patient’s quality of life. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the health-related quality of life in patients one month after the acute myocardial infarction. Material and method The study involved 160 patients of both sexes, 30 to 79 years of age. The health-related quality of life in patients was assessed at the admission at the coronary care unit, and one month after. The following questionnaires were used: EuroQuolVAS and EuroQuol 5 Dimension. Angina pectoris was ranked according to the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Classification. Results: Men and women evaluated their health condition in a similar way (60.48±11.98 vs 60.55±12.24). Patients who (have) undergone primary coronary intervention had significantly higher average scores on EuroQuolVAS than the patients who were treated with thrombolytic therapy (68.69±9.67 vs 52.31±7.87, p<0.001). Modest and severe problems were the most presented in answers to those questions: pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression and self-care. Both men (0.92±0.43 vs 3.27±0.59, p<0.001) and women (0.89±0.46 vs 3.19±0.55, p<0.001) had significiantly lower average marks of angina pectoris one month after the acute myocardial infarction than at the admission to the hospital. Conclusion One month after the acute myocardial infarction the quality of life in patients was very impared. Patients who undergone to the primary coronary intervention evaluated their health condition as better than the patients who were treated with thrombolytic therapy. Those patients also had the lower average marks of angina pectoris and the higher health-related quality of life.