Heart Disease and Happiness
Reported July 21, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) Better treatments for heart disease may help people live longer, but are they enjoying that extra time?
A new study from the American Heart Association finds adults with coronary heart disease (CHD) scored up to 9 percent lower on four scales measuring quality of life than those without CHD.
Quality of life includes physical functioning, social functioning, overall life satisfaction, and perceptions of health status. It can be used to measure how effective a treatment is and predict how long a patient will live after a cardiac event.
Results show women, blacks, Hispanics and those ages 18 to 49 were most likely to report a poorer quality of life. But older adults — especially those older than 65 — were less likely to say heart disease affected their quality of life.
The study also found on average, CHD patients had 2.4 percent lower mental health scores, 9 percent lower self-ratings of health and 9.2 percent lower scores in physical health.
Researchers note men and women with heart disease rated lower on the mental health measure than those without CHD. While self-rated health scores showed men were more affected by CHD than women, physical health scores showed women with heart disease were more functionally impaired than men.
According to the American Heart Association, about 16 million people in the United States have coronary heart disease.
SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, published online July 14, 2008