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Adult CHD patients under clinical follow-up have a similar quality of life to the general population in Malta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2016

Maryanne Caruana Open the ORCID record for Maryanne Caruana [Opens in a new window]  and
Victor Grech
Maryanne Caruana*
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta, Europe
Victor Grech
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatrics, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta, Europe
*
Correspondence to: Dr M. Caruana, Cardiac Catheterisation Suite, Department of Cardiology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida MSD 2090, Malta, Europe. Tel: +356 7970 3708; Fax: +356 2545 3894; E-mail: caruana.maryanne@gmail.com
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Abstract

Background

The improved survival of patients born with CHD has led to increasing interest in research on quality of life of adult survivors. We report the findings of the first study in Malta carried out to investigate quality of life in adults with CHD under follow-up.

Methods

A self-reporting questionnaire modelled on the basis of the European Health Interview Survey 2008, including questions on mental health and vitality, was administered to consecutive adult CHD outpatients, aged 16 years and over, between May, 2013 and May, 2014. Foreigners and patients with learning difficulties or cognitive impairment were excluded. Quality-of-life data were compared with that from 371 age- and sex-matched 2008 survey responders – general population cohort. The impact of congenital lesion complexity, hospitalisation in the preceding 12 months, arrhythmias, co-morbidities, and cardiac medication use on quality of life of the CHD cohort was also investigated.

Results

There were a total of 120 patient responders (63 males; mean age 30.53, SD 12.77 years). Overall, there were no significant differences in mental health and vitality between patient and general population cohorts, although older patients had better mental health scores compared with age-matched controls. Within the adult CHD cohort, hospitalisation in the preceding 12 months was the only factor associated with a poorer quality of life.

Conclusions

Overall, CHD has no negative impact on mental health and vitality in Maltese adult patients under follow-up. Patients needing frequent hospitalisations might warrant closer attention by clinical psychologists.

Keywords

Quality of lifehospitalisationcardiac arrhythmiasmental health
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , August 2017 , pp. 1051 - 1059
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2016 

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