Exercise in elderly patients with chronic heart failure in primary care: effects on physical capacity and health-related quality of life.

Introduction: Chronic heart failure (CHF) limits exercise capacity which influences physical fitness and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Aim: The aim was to determine the effects on physical capacity and HRQoL of an exercise programme in elderly patients with CHF in primary care.

Methods: An exercise intervention was conducted as a prospective, longitudinal and controlled clinical study in primary care in elderly patients with CHF.

Spouses' experiences of impact on daily life regarding physical limitations in the loved one with heart failure: a phenomenographic analysis.

Background: Physical limitation is a great burden for patients with heart failure, but little is known about how that affects spouses. Beneficial effects of support on the prognosis for the patient with chronic heart failure may come at a psychological and physical cost to the person providing the support.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore and describe how spouses conceive the physical limitations in patients with heart failure and the impact these limitations have on the daily life of the spouse.

Patients' experiences of physical limitations in daily life activities when suffering from chronic heart failure; a phenomenographic analysis.

The aim of the study was to describe how patients suffering from chronic heart failure conceived their physical limitations in daily life activities. An explorative and qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach was chosen, a total of 15 patients were interviewed. The findings indicate that participants perceived a variety of structural aspects pertaining to physical limitations in activities of daily life which resulted in four referential aspects.

Depression and health-related quality of life in elderly patients suffering from heart failure and their spouses: a comparative study.

Background: Little is known about the factors that influence the health outcome of elderly patients suffering from heart failure or the health of their spouses. The aim of this comparative study was to determine if older patients suffering from heart failure and their spouses experience similar levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and depression. The aim was also to identify those factors that contribute to HRQOL and depression in patient-spouse pairs.

Emotions, the meaning of food and heart failure: a grounded theory study.

Background: Many patients with heart failure have generalized wasting, referred to as cardiac cachexia. This leads to skeletal muscle wasting, impaired mobility, reduced functional capacity and poor prognosis. Patients with heart failure have symptoms that can affect their food intake, for example breathing difficulties, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, early feeling of fullness and ascites.