Women, mental health and health-related quality of life in coronary patients

Objective: To establish clusters of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in a population of patients hospitalised for suspected Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), and to examine the relationship between mental health and other sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with worse HRQL. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 185 patients admitted to the Cardiology Service. We used the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) to assess the mental status, and the SF-36 to assess Health Related Quality Life (HRQL). Using the patients' scores obtained from the SF-36, we performed a cluster analysis and used a logistic model for the analysis of the variables associated with HRQL clusters. Results: We identified two HRQL clusters: good quality of life, for which the patients scored highest in all the dimensions of SF-36, and worse quality of life, for which patients had lower scores in all dimensions. The variables associated with the worse quality of life group were: female gender, previous history of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), and poor mental health. Conclusions: Being female, having poor mental health and a previous history of CHD were identified as representing a vulnerable group with worse HRQL.