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Anxiety, depression and functional capacity in older women with mitral valve stenosis
Author(s) -
Shuldham Caroline,
Goodman Helen,
Fleming Sharon,
Tattersall Kirsty,
PryseHawkins Hayley
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
international journal of nursing practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1440-172X
pISSN - 1322-7114
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-172x.2001.00280.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , depression (economics) , medicine , stenosis , cardiology , mitral valve , disease , hospital anxiety and depression scale , physical therapy , psychiatry , economics , macroeconomics
Mitral valve stenosis can lead to a range of symptoms that affect daily life. As many of the people with this problem are elderly, the difficulties resulting from age can be exacerbated by illness. A pilot descriptive study was designed to examine the differences in anxiety, depression and functional capacity in women with mitral valve stenosis who were aged over 60 years when compared to a similar group of volunteers who did not have any cardiac disease. Measurement was undertaken using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, the SF‐36 Health Status questionnaire and the Functional Limitations Profile. Forty women were recruited to the study: 20 women with mitral valve stenosis and 20 volunteers. Each person was asked to complete the three questionnaires on one occasion only. Non‐parametric statistics were used for analysis. Patients fared worse than volunteers with significant differences between groups in respect of anxiety ( P = 0.03), depression ( P = 0.02) and overall function ( P < 0.001), but not in physical ( P = 0.52) or mental health ( P = 0.32). Future research could focus on strategies that would help alleviate anxiety and depression and improve functional capacity in older women with mitral valve stenosis.