 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Wei Ying, MS, Michele Dipalo, MA, and John Mason, PhD. Health Service Evaluation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Landmark Center (mail stop: 01/08), 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA 02215, 617-246-4925, Wei.Ying@bcbsma.com
Objective: To evaluate baseline quality of life (QOL) and to assess the impact of a congestive heart failure (CHF) disease management program on QOL in physical, mental and social well-being dimensions for different age and gender groups.
Methods: Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MNLHFQ) was administered at both baseline and follow-up for 761 patients. Factor analysis on the baseline questionnaire yielded a 3-factor structure, with physical (alpha=0.87), mental (alpha=0.77), and social (alpha=0.65) factors. The study population was separated into four groups based on age Young (Y)/Old (O) and gender Female (F)/Male (M). Univariate analyses assessed the correlation between individual items and baseline QOL and QOL improvement over time in the three dimensions.
Results: During baseline time period, the five items most closely correlated with baseline QOL varied for the four groups. In the same period, YM and YF reported a significantly (p<0.05) worse social function than OM and OF, and YF reported significantly (p<0.05) worse mental and social functions than all other groups. From baseline to follow-up, YM and YF made significant (p<0.05) QOL improvement in all three dimensions, but OM and OF did so only for physical and mental scales. In the social dimension, the largest gains in individual items were made by YM and YF in 'earning a living' and YF did better than OM and OF in 'recreation pastimes'. In physical dimension, YF showed greater improvement than all others on 'fatigue and low energy'.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Quality of Life, Disease Management
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.