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Symptom Clusters of Heart Failure
Corrine Y. Jurgens, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAHA, Clinical Associate Professor, Debra K. Moser, DNSc, RN, FAAN, Professor, [...], and Barbara Riegel, DNSc, RN, CS, FAAN, FAHA, Professor
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Abstract
Patients with heart failure (HF) report multiple symptoms. Change in symptoms is an indicator of HF decompensation. Patients have difficulty differentiating HF symptoms from comorbid illness or aging. The study purpose was to identify the number, type, and combination of symptoms in hospitalized HF patients and test relationships with comorbid illness and age. A secondary analysis from a HF registry (N=687) was conducted. The sample was 51.7% female, mean age 71±12.5 years. The theory of unpleasant symptoms informed the study regarding the multidimensional nature of symptoms. Factor analysis of 9 items from the Minnesota Living with HF Questionnaire resulted in three factors, acute and chronic volume overload and emotional distress. Clusters occurred more frequently in older patients, but caused less impact.
Keywords: heart failure, symptoms, self-care
Symptoms can be used by patients as indicators of their illnesses. Patients with heart failure (HF) commonly report multiple symptoms, including dyspnea on exertion, fatigue, and peripheral edema. As HF is a chronic and progressive syndrome, these symptoms occur even in persons who are clinically stable. However, a change or increase in severity or frequency of these symptoms is an important early indicator of decompensation. HF patients often have difficulty recognizing their symptoms, attributing their symptoms to the correct cause, and differentiating symptoms of HF from those of comorbid illness or normal aging. Previous hospitalization for HF does not improve patients’ timely response to their symptoms (Friedman, 1997; Jurgens, 2006).
Symptom clusters have been examined in other illnesses, most commonly cancer (Armstrong, Cohen, Eriksen, & Hickey, 2004; Dodd et al., 2001). Cancer symptom clusters have been found useful in assessing the effect of multiple co-occurring symptoms (versus discrete individual symptoms) on patient outcomes such as quality of life and functional status (Miaskowski, Dodd, & Lee, 2004). We reasoned that if clusters of HF symptoms could be identified, patients with HF might be helped to recognize their early symptoms of decompensation more readily. That is, the understanding of relationships among co-occurring HF symptoms may assist patients to attribute their symptoms to their heart instead of more benign causes. Accurate symptom attribution could facilitate timely self-care and potentially avert hospital admission for acute symptom management. The purpose of this study was to identify the number, type, and combination of symptoms in hospitalized HF patients. A secondary purpose was to identify the contribution of comorbid illness and age to symptom clusters.
Theoretical Framework
The theory of unpleasant symptoms guided this study, as it specifies that the experience of symptoms is multidimensional (e.g., more than a physical sensation). The theory also incorporates the potential interactions of multiple symptoms (Lenz, Pugh, Milligan, Gift, & Suppe, 1997; Lenz, Suppe, Gift, Pugh, & Milligan, 1995). The 3-tier theoretical model describes the influence of antecedent physiological, psychological, and situational factors on symptom characteristics and patient response.
The significance of this perspective is that when symptoms are multidimensional, cognitive, affective, and situational stimuli may make it difficult to differentiate symptoms and accurately label underlying pathologies. When there is interaction among symptoms, patients may have difficulty differentiating their dyspnea from other psychosocial and situational factors that affect symptom perception and response to symptoms (L. Cameron, Leventhal, & Leventhal, 1993). Antecedents such as depression or previous illness experience can influence patients’ perceptions about their symptoms. A depressed patient might ignore the timing, intensity, quality and distress characteristics of new onset edema.
In the theory of unpleasant symptoms, symptoms are conceptualized both individually and in combination with other symptoms. Furthermore, according to the theory when multiple symptoms are experienced simultaneously, it may be more difficult to differentiate the quality of each individual symptom. Therefore, there are benefits to identifying clusters of HF symptoms for both patients and clinicians. Patients who are unable to attribute a symptom to HF may ignore the symptom and delay performing self-care behaviors or seeking medical advice. With knowledge of which symptoms cluster together, clinicians can teach patients who have trouble recognizing dyspnea to monitor for another symptom in the cluster. Knowledge of symptoms as clusters may improve the ability to attribute symptoms appropriately and make symptom monitoring more meaningful for patients.
Background
Early symptoms of impending decompensated HF include weight gain, development of or increasing peripheral edema, increasing dyspnea with activity, increased abdominal girth, and fatigue. Without medical intervention, these symptoms often progress to include more physically compromising (acute) symptoms such as severe dyspnea, limiting the ability to speak in full sentences, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (waking at night unable to breathe), or orthopnea (inability to breathe while lying flat). Some of the most common etiologies of decompensated HF are lack of adherence to medications, sodium indiscretion, and infection (Paul & Vollano, 2008). Sensitivity to and recognition of a subtle and insidious increase in HF symptom severity (e.g., decreased activity tolerance) from chronic baseline symptoms to decompensated HF is challenging for patients.
Patients with HF who experience multiple symptoms have been shown to have particular difficulty with symptom perception. In a study of patients treated for HF in a hospital emergency department, some patients responded to a change in the intensity or perceived distress of their symptoms while others responded to symptom duration (Parshall et al., 2001).
Comorbid illnesses (physical and psychological) have been shown to complicate accurate symptom attribution for HF patients. Common comorbid illnesses in this population include hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease, atrial fibrillation, renal failure, depression, and anemia (Ceia et al., 2004; Dahlstrom, 2005; Masoudi & Krumholz, 2003). Differentiating the origin of symptoms in the presence of comorbid illness is difficult. For example, fatigue is common to many of these diagnoses. Dyspnea, the most commonly experienced symptom among HF patients, is often attributed to chronic lung disease (Horowitz, Rein, & Leventhal, 2004). In some cases, dyspnea of HF is eventually accepted as normal and patients do not identify dyspnea as a problem (Edmonds et al., 2005). For patients with both HF and chronic lung disease (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), differentiating the source of dyspnea is challenging.
Psychological factors such as depression can affect the perception of dyspnea distress. Ramasamy and colleagues (2006) examined psychological correlates of dyspnea in patients (N = 67) with chronic HF. Dyspnea was related to depression, fatigue, and overall health perception. Symptoms are not simply unpleasant physical sensations. Rather, they have cognitive and affective components that influence how the physical sensations are perceived and reported.
Advanced age complicates symptom assessment, as elders may experience or interpret physical symptoms differently. In the United States, HF is the most common hospital discharge diagnosis in persons 65 years of age and older (DeFrances, Lucas, Buie, & Golosinskiy, 2008; Thomas & Rich, 2007). Among patients with HF, older patients reported less physical symptom distress when admitted to the hospital with decompensated HF (Jurgens, Fain, & Riegel, 2006). Some illnesses present atypically in older adults (e.g., atrial fibrillation; Resnick, 1999), and others are commonly dismissed as signs of aging (Stoller, 1993). Considering the interplay of advanced age, comorbid illness, and the lack of specificity of symptoms of HF, it is not surprising that HF patients have difficulty determining the meaning of their symptoms.
Methods
A secondary analysis was conducted to identify acute and chronic HF symptom clusters in patients hospitalized for decompensated HF. For the purpose of this study, new and or worsening HF symptoms, or acute HF symptoms leading to hospitalization, are referred to as decompensated HF. Symptom clusters were defined as three or more concurrent symptoms that are related to one another (Dodd, Miaskowski, & Lee, 2004).
Sample
A sample of patients was drawn from a data registry of the Heart Failure Quality of Life Trialist Collaborators. The data were contributed by investigators from six sites representing the southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern regions of the United States. Only patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HF were included in this study. The diagnosis of HF was determined by the attending physician based on echocardiographic and clinical criteria. Both newly diagnosed patients and those with a history of HF were included. Patients with acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, cognitive impairment, or severe psychiatric problems were excluded, as were those discharged to an extended care or skilled nursing facility and those who were homeless. To be included in this secondary analysis, the patients had to speak either English or Spanish.
At the time this study was conducted (2007), contributors to the data registry had enrolled a total of 2244 hospitalized and community-dwelling patients. All
วิจัยสุขภาพและการพยาบาลผู้เขียนฉบับเข้าไปถึง HHSกลุ่มอาการหัวใจล้มเหลวCorrine Y. Jurgens ดร. RN, ANP BC, FAHA ศาสตราจารย์คลินิก เดวิดเคโม DNSc, RN, FAAN ศาสตราจารย์, [...], และบาร์บารา Riegel, DNSc, RN, CS, FAAN, FAHA ศาสตราจารย์รายละเอียดเพิ่มเติมบทคัดย่อผู้ป่วยที่ มีภาวะหัวใจวาย (HF) รายงานอาการหลายอย่าง อาการเปลี่ยนแปลงเป็นตัวบ่งชี้ของ HF decompensation ผู้ป่วยที่มีปัญหาที่ขึ้นต้นอาการ HF จาก comorbid เจ็บป่วยหรืออายุ วัตถุประสงค์การศึกษาเพื่อ ระบุหมายเลข ชนิด และชุดของอาการในผู้ป่วยที่พัก HF และทดสอบความสัมพันธ์กับอายุและเจ็บป่วย comorbid นั้น ดำเนินการวิเคราะห์รองจากรีจิสทรี HF (N = 687) ตัวอย่างเป็นหญิง 51.7% หมายถึง อายุ 71±12.5 ปี ทฤษฎีอาการอันไม่พึงทราบการศึกษาเกี่ยวกับธรรมชาติหลายอาการ วิเคราะห์ปัจจัยต่าง ๆ 9 จากชีวิตมินเนโซต้ากับ HF สอบถามผลในปัจจัยสามประการ โอเวอร์โหลดเสียงเฉียบพลัน และเรื้อรัง และความทุกข์ทางอารมณ์ คลัสเตอร์เกิดขึ้นบ่อยในผู้ป่วยเก่า แต่เกิดผลกระทบน้อยกว่าคำสำคัญ: หัวใจล้มเหลว อาการ สุขภาพSymptoms can be used by patients as indicators of their illnesses. Patients with heart failure (HF) commonly report multiple symptoms, including dyspnea on exertion, fatigue, and peripheral edema. As HF is a chronic and progressive syndrome, these symptoms occur even in persons who are clinically stable. However, a change or increase in severity or frequency of these symptoms is an important early indicator of decompensation. HF patients often have difficulty recognizing their symptoms, attributing their symptoms to the correct cause, and differentiating symptoms of HF from those of comorbid illness or normal aging. Previous hospitalization for HF does not improve patients’ timely response to their symptoms (Friedman, 1997; Jurgens, 2006).Symptom clusters have been examined in other illnesses, most commonly cancer (Armstrong, Cohen, Eriksen, & Hickey, 2004; Dodd et al., 2001). Cancer symptom clusters have been found useful in assessing the effect of multiple co-occurring symptoms (versus discrete individual symptoms) on patient outcomes such as quality of life and functional status (Miaskowski, Dodd, & Lee, 2004). We reasoned that if clusters of HF symptoms could be identified, patients with HF might be helped to recognize their early symptoms of decompensation more readily. That is, the understanding of relationships among co-occurring HF symptoms may assist patients to attribute their symptoms to their heart instead of more benign causes. Accurate symptom attribution could facilitate timely self-care and potentially avert hospital admission for acute symptom management. The purpose of this study was to identify the number, type, and combination of symptoms in hospitalized HF patients. A secondary purpose was to identify the contribution of comorbid illness and age to symptom clusters.Theoretical FrameworkThe theory of unpleasant symptoms guided this study, as it specifies that the experience of symptoms is multidimensional (e.g., more than a physical sensation). The theory also incorporates the potential interactions of multiple symptoms (Lenz, Pugh, Milligan, Gift, & Suppe, 1997; Lenz, Suppe, Gift, Pugh, & Milligan, 1995). The 3-tier theoretical model describes the influence of antecedent physiological, psychological, and situational factors on symptom characteristics and patient response.
The significance of this perspective is that when symptoms are multidimensional, cognitive, affective, and situational stimuli may make it difficult to differentiate symptoms and accurately label underlying pathologies. When there is interaction among symptoms, patients may have difficulty differentiating their dyspnea from other psychosocial and situational factors that affect symptom perception and response to symptoms (L. Cameron, Leventhal, & Leventhal, 1993). Antecedents such as depression or previous illness experience can influence patients’ perceptions about their symptoms. A depressed patient might ignore the timing, intensity, quality and distress characteristics of new onset edema.
In the theory of unpleasant symptoms, symptoms are conceptualized both individually and in combination with other symptoms. Furthermore, according to the theory when multiple symptoms are experienced simultaneously, it may be more difficult to differentiate the quality of each individual symptom. Therefore, there are benefits to identifying clusters of HF symptoms for both patients and clinicians. Patients who are unable to attribute a symptom to HF may ignore the symptom and delay performing self-care behaviors or seeking medical advice. With knowledge of which symptoms cluster together, clinicians can teach patients who have trouble recognizing dyspnea to monitor for another symptom in the cluster. Knowledge of symptoms as clusters may improve the ability to attribute symptoms appropriately and make symptom monitoring more meaningful for patients.
Background
Early symptoms of impending decompensated HF include weight gain, development of or increasing peripheral edema, increasing dyspnea with activity, increased abdominal girth, and fatigue. Without medical intervention, these symptoms often progress to include more physically compromising (acute) symptoms such as severe dyspnea, limiting the ability to speak in full sentences, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (waking at night unable to breathe), or orthopnea (inability to breathe while lying flat). Some of the most common etiologies of decompensated HF are lack of adherence to medications, sodium indiscretion, and infection (Paul & Vollano, 2008). Sensitivity to and recognition of a subtle and insidious increase in HF symptom severity (e.g., decreased activity tolerance) from chronic baseline symptoms to decompensated HF is challenging for patients.
Patients with HF who experience multiple symptoms have been shown to have particular difficulty with symptom perception. In a study of patients treated for HF in a hospital emergency department, some patients responded to a change in the intensity or perceived distress of their symptoms while others responded to symptom duration (Parshall et al., 2001).
Comorbid illnesses (physical and psychological) have been shown to complicate accurate symptom attribution for HF patients. Common comorbid illnesses in this population include hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease, atrial fibrillation, renal failure, depression, and anemia (Ceia et al., 2004; Dahlstrom, 2005; Masoudi & Krumholz, 2003). Differentiating the origin of symptoms in the presence of comorbid illness is difficult. For example, fatigue is common to many of these diagnoses. Dyspnea, the most commonly experienced symptom among HF patients, is often attributed to chronic lung disease (Horowitz, Rein, & Leventhal, 2004). In some cases, dyspnea of HF is eventually accepted as normal and patients do not identify dyspnea as a problem (Edmonds et al., 2005). For patients with both HF and chronic lung disease (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), differentiating the source of dyspnea is challenging.
Psychological factors such as depression can affect the perception of dyspnea distress. Ramasamy and colleagues (2006) examined psychological correlates of dyspnea in patients (N = 67) with chronic HF. Dyspnea was related to depression, fatigue, and overall health perception. Symptoms are not simply unpleasant physical sensations. Rather, they have cognitive and affective components that influence how the physical sensations are perceived and reported.
Advanced age complicates symptom assessment, as elders may experience or interpret physical symptoms differently. In the United States, HF is the most common hospital discharge diagnosis in persons 65 years of age and older (DeFrances, Lucas, Buie, & Golosinskiy, 2008; Thomas & Rich, 2007). Among patients with HF, older patients reported less physical symptom distress when admitted to the hospital with decompensated HF (Jurgens, Fain, & Riegel, 2006). Some illnesses present atypically in older adults (e.g., atrial fibrillation; Resnick, 1999), and others are commonly dismissed as signs of aging (Stoller, 1993). Considering the interplay of advanced age, comorbid illness, and the lack of specificity of symptoms of HF, it is not surprising that HF patients have difficulty determining the meaning of their symptoms.
Methods
A secondary analysis was conducted to identify acute and chronic HF symptom clusters in patients hospitalized for decompensated HF. For the purpose of this study, new and or worsening HF symptoms, or acute HF symptoms leading to hospitalization, are referred to as decompensated HF. Symptom clusters were defined as three or more concurrent symptoms that are related to one another (Dodd, Miaskowski, & Lee, 2004).
Sample
A sample of patients was drawn from a data registry of the Heart Failure Quality of Life Trialist Collaborators. The data were contributed by investigators from six sites representing the southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern regions of the United States. Only patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HF were included in this study. The diagnosis of HF was determined by the attending physician based on echocardiographic and clinical criteria. Both newly diagnosed patients and those with a history of HF were included. Patients with acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, cognitive impairment, or severe psychiatric problems were excluded, as were those discharged to an extended care or skilled nursing facility and those who were homeless. To be included in this secondary analysis, the patients had to speak either English or Spanish.
At the time this study was conducted (2007), contributors to the data registry had enrolled a total of 2244 hospitalized and community-dwelling patients. All
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