Disease Severity, Illness Perceptions, Depression and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Heart Failure

Background: Disease severity negatively affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among people with heart failure (HF). However, the underlying mechanisms remain underexplored. Illness perceptions and depression serve as potential mediators of this relationship, but the evidence supporting this is limited.

Objective: To investigate the relationships among disease severity, illness perceptions, depression and HRQOL in people with HF, as well as to explore the mediating roles of illness perceptions and depression in the relationship between disease severity and HRQOL.

Methods: People with HF were recruited from a tertiary hospital in China between January and May 2023. All the participants were assessed for disease severity, illness perceptions, depression, HRQOL and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The mediation analysis was performed using PROCESS macro in SPSS. The STROBE checklist was followed.

Results: This study recruited 164 subjects. Disease severity had a significant total effect on HRQOL (β = 0.716, 95% CI: 4.475, 12.068). The results showed that illness perceptions mediated the relationship between disease severity and HRQOL (β = 0.172, 95% CI: 0.042, 0.337), accounting for 24.02% of the total effect. However, a significant mediating role of depression in this relationship was not found. Furthermore, we found that illness perceptions and depression sequentially mediated the relationship between disease severity and HRQOL (β = 0.194, 95% CI: 0.005, 0.395), which accounted for 27.09% of the total effect.

Conclusions: The effect of disease severity on HRQOL is sequentially mediated by illness perceptions and depression. Illness perceptions are important predictors of HRQOL. Targeted interventions should be employed to improve illness perceptions, thereby enhancing HRQOL among people with HF.

Relevance to clinical practice: Medical staff can carefully assess patient's illness perceptions and implement appropriate strategies to enhance these illness perceptions, thereby improving their HRQOL.

Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.