Background

Whether recognition and prompt response to worsening symptoms are worse in older compared with younger patients with heart failure (HF) is unclear.

Objectives

The aims of this study were to compare older and younger patients (1) perceptions, evaluations, and responses to worsening HF symptoms, and (2) responses once worsening symptoms were perceived.

Methods

A mixed-methods study was conducted and to compare data between older (≥ 65) and younger (< 65) in 185 patients hospitalized with HF.

Results

There were few differences attributed to age. In response to higher perceived symptom distress, patients in both groups did nothing and hoped their symptoms would go away (p = 0.004), ignored symptoms and continued doing what they were doing (p = 0.002), or laid down to relax (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The majority of patients, regardless of age, did not recognize, interpret, and respond appropriately to HF symptoms. Interventions should be tested that target better symptom appraisal and promote appropriate symptom responses in patients with HF across all ages.

中文翻译：

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老年和年轻患者对心力衰竭症状恶化的感知、评估和反应

背景

与年轻的心力衰竭 (HF) 患者相比，老年患者对恶化症状的识别和及时反应是否更差尚不清楚。

目标

本研究的目的是比较老年和年轻患者 (1) 对恶化的 HF 症状的感知、评估和反应，以及 (2) 一旦感知到症状恶化后的反应。

方法

进行了一项混合方法研究，比较了 185 名住院 HF 患者的老年（≥ 65 岁）和年轻（< 65 岁）之间的数据。

结果

几乎没有差异归因于年龄。为了应对更高的感知症状困扰，两组患者什么都不做并希望他们的症状消失（p = 0.004），忽略症状并继续做他们正在做的事情（p = 0.002），或躺下放松（p < 0.001）。

结论

大多数患者，无论年龄大小，都不能识别、解释和对 HF 症状做出适当的反应。应该测试干预措施，以更好地评估症状并促进所有年龄段 HF 患者的适当症状反应。