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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This study examines the relationship between coping styles, quality of life, and depressive symptoms in older heart failure patients. Eighty heart failure patients seeking treatment in an outpatient heart failure or family practice clinic participated in a study examining depression, disability, and heart failure. Patients completed a clinical interview and questionnaires about mood, functional impairment, comorbid illness, quality of life, and coping. Heart failure severity and maladaptive coping styles, including denial, self-distraction, and self-blame, negatively affected quality of life and depressive symptoms. The use of maladaptive coping strategies involves efforts that divert attention from the illness and suggests the need to provide heart failure patients the skills to directly address the stress associated with their illness. Interventions that target these coping strategies may help patients take a more active role in their heart failure management and may improve psychological and cardiac outcomes.
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PMID:Relationship of coping styles with quality of life and depressive symptoms in older heart failure patients. 1721

To provide a conceptual rationale for targeted self-management strategies for breathlessness in chronic heart failure. Breathlessness is a defining symptom of chronic heart failure and is the primary cause for hospital readmissions and emergency room visits, resulting in extensive health care utilization. Chronic breathlessness, punctuated by acute physiological decompensation, is a sentinel symptom of the heart failure syndrome and often intensifies towards the end of life. Drawing upon evidence-based guidelines, physiological mechanisms and existing conceptual models for the management of breathlessness is proposed. Key elements of this model include adherence to evidence-based approaches (pharmacological and non-pharmacological management to optimize heart failure treatment), self-monitoring of symptoms, identification of modifiable factors (such as fluid overload), and targeted strategies for breathlessness including distraction and gas flow. Self-management is an essential component in heart failure management which could positively influences health outcomes and quality of life. Refining programs to focus on breathlessness may have the potential to reduce symptom burden and improve quality of life.
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PMID:Rationale for targeted self-management strategies for breathlessness in heart failure. 3187 43