손연정¹,김선희¹, 김선희², 송은경³

순천향대학교 의과대학 간호학과¹, 혜전대학 간호과², 울산대학교 간호학과³

Background: Elderly patients with heart failure (HF) have impaired cognitive function along with the aging of the population. Therefore, impaired cognitive function may be associated with poor adherence to self care, and lead to negative health outcomes. However, there is limited research on cognitive function of HF patients. The purposes of this study were to determine the level of cognitive function and its impact on adherence to self care in elderly patients with HF. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Chungnam province for a total of 121 older adults (>65years old) from March to July, 2009. Cognitive function was assessed using the Korean version of Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE-K). Patients completed the European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior (EHScB-9) to measure adherence to self care; higher score means better adherence to self care. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationship between cognitive function and adherence to self care. Results: A total of 29 patients (23.9%) had high risk cognitive impairment. In hierarchical multiple linear regression, patients with lower level of cognitive function had poorer adherence to self care after adjusting for demographic and disease related characteristics (β=0.209, P=0.031). Conclusions: These findings show that health care providers need to pay attention to HF patients who experience cognitive impairment. Further, it is recommended to develop and implement simple strategies for assessing cognitive function in the clinical setting. Treatments to improve cognitive function could reduce adverse health outcomes by improving adherence to self care in elderly with HF.
Korean J Health Promot 2010;10(2):61-70 Key Words: Aged, Heart failure, Cognition, Self care