Objectives: To study changes in health-related quality of life (HR-QL) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or congestive heart failure (CHF) in older people (> or = 57 yr).
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: Primary healthcare registers.
Participants: Patients were enrolled on the basis of primary healthcare records. Eighty-nine AMI patients (mean age = 69.5) and 119 CHF patients (mean age = 74.5) were included for analysis.
Measurements: HR-QL was conceptualized and measured by means of physical (activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)), psychological (depressive symptoms, anxiety), social, and role functioning. Premorbid data (TO) were available from a 1993 community-based survey. Incident AMI and CHF cases, developed after 1993, were prospectively followed for 12 months. Assessments were performed at 6 weeks (T1) and 6 (T2) and 12 months (T3) after diagnosis.
Results: At the premorbid assessment, AMI patients did not significantly differ on HR-QL from a reference group of older people, whereas CHF patients were on average older and had worse HR-QL compared to the reference group. Although CHF had not yet been diagnosed at TO, symptoms were already present and resulted in decreased levels of functioning. At T1, all HR-QL measures showed worse functioning compared with TO, except for depressive symptoms that presented later (at T2). In contrast to the delay in depressive symptoms, a significant increase in anxiety was already seen at T1. The effect of the somatic conditions was the largest on physical functioning. Effects on psychological and social functioning were less pronounced but still significant. Effects were maintained during the 12 months of follow-up.
Conclusion: The negative consequences on HR-QL in both AMI and CHF patients are not temporary. No recovery of function was seen in AMI patients, and functioning of CHF patients continued to decline in the first year after diagnosis.