The core symptoms of elderly patients with chronic heart failure and their impact on quality of life

CAI Tingting; XIA Yunhui; ZHU Yujia; CHENG Linwen; LIU Min; SHEN Jiantong; MO Hangfeng

doi:10.12104/j.issn.1674-4748.2025.18.004

Abstract：Objective:To construct a symptom network for elderly patients with chronic heart failure based on network analysis methods,identify core symptoms and explore their impact on quality of life,and promote the development of precise symptom management.Methods:A total of 220 patients with chronic heart failure who were hospitalized in the department of cardiology of a tertiary grade A hospital in Zhejiang province from January to November 2024 were selected as the research subjects.They were investigated using a self-designed general information questionnaire,the Chinese version of the Memorial Heart Failure Symptom Assessment Scale,and the Chinese version of the Minnesota Quality of Life Scale.The symptom network was constructed using R software to identify core symptoms,and the influence of core symptoms on the quality of life of patients was explored through hierarchical regression methods.Results:The symptoms with a relatively high incidence rate are shortness of breath,fatigue and palpitations,while the symptoms with a relatively high severity are shortness of breath,edema in legs/arms and palpitations.Anxiety is the symptom with the highest node strength in the network,followed by nocturnal sleep apnea.The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that anxiety has the greatest impact on quality of life[β=1.409,95%CI(0.654,2.163),P<0.001],and its explanatory power for the model is 22%.Conclusions:The core symptoms of elderly patients with chronic heart failure are anxiety and waking up during sleep at night,which seriously affect the quality of life of the patients.Healthcare professionals can take corresponding intervention measures based on the core symptoms to improve the quality of life of the patients.