Effects of dietary approaches to stop hypertension on the quality of life and re-hospitalization rate in patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) on the quality of life and re-hospitalization rate in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) . Methods A total of 163 patients with CHF receiving standard medical therapy in the Cardiology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from February to September 2014 were selected and divided into experimental group (n=85) and control group (n=78) randomly. Low salt, low fat diet was applied in the control group, while DASH was adopted in the experimental group. Patients' body mess index (BMI) , blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipid, ejection fraction, cardiac function, the score of Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) and re-hospitalization rate were compared before and after intervention. Results There were no statistical differences in BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipid, cardiac function and the score of MLHFQ before intervention (P>0.05) . Patients' BMI, systolic pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride of the experimental group paitents were all lower than those of the control group 12 months after intervention, with statistical significance (P<0.05) . 12 months after intervention, patients' quality of life of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05) , and the re-hospitalization rate was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05) . Conclusions DASH can improve the quality of life in patients with CHF, reduce readmission rate, thus improving the prognosis of heart failure. Key words: Quality of life; Chronic heart failure; DASH diet; Re-hospitalization rate