Correlation between quality of life, functional class and age in patients with cardiac pacemaker.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether there is a correlation between quality of life and functional class in early heart pacemaker in patients, and its relationship with age.

METHODS

107 patients of both sexes (49.5% female/50.5% male) were investigated, average implant time of 6.36 months (±2.99), and average age of 69.3 years (±12.6). To assess the FC, a scale suggested by Goldman was used; for QoL the AQUAREL questionnaire was used, associated with SF-36. Statistical analysis was conducted using Spearman's correlation with 5% significance.

RESULTS

Negative correlations were observed between QoL and FC: AQUAREL in the three domains, chest discomfort (r=-0.197, P=0.042), dyspnea (r=-0.508, P=0.000), arrhythmia (r=-0.271, P=0.005), and the SF-36 in the eight domains. Regarding age, there was a negative correlation with the SF36 Functional Capacity (r=-0.338, P=0.000) and no correlation was found with AQUAREL. Positive correlation (r=0.237, P=0.014) was observed between age and FC.

CONCLUSION

In this study we found a significant negative correlation between QoL and FC, indicating that patients in this sample who belong to a better FC demonstrated better QoL. The older the patient, QoL is worse in functional capacity and FC. It is suggested that age and FC influence QoL, and the functional classification scales may be established as one of the assessment tools and reflect QoL in patients with pacemakers.