Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cardiac cachexia is considered as an ominous complication that possibly associated with the terminal stages of chronic heart failure as it consumes the protein-calories reserves of the patients.AIMS: The aims of this study were to identify the prevalence, level, and correlates of cardiac cachexia among Jordanian patients with chronic heart failure.METHODS: A cross-sectional design was employed. A convenient sample of 300 chronic heart failure patients was recruited from accessible chronic heart failure patients who regularly visit the cardiac care clinics at two different hospitals that represent two health sectors in Jordan. A self-developed instrument was used to collect the data for the purpose of this study.RESULTS: The mean of the total cachexia score of the sample was 5.88. Cardiac cachexia was detected in 58.7% (n= 176) about half of them were having mild cachexia. The prevalence of cardiac cachexia was 13.15%. There were statistically significant correlation between the total cachexia score and some variables that include the patients’ age, monthly income, and number of years since diagnosed as chronic heart failure patients; however, number of daily smoked cigarettes wasn’t significantly correlated with the total cachexia score.CONCLUSION: Cardiac cachexia has not been widely investigated yet. The findings of this study can be used as a baseline data since this study is the first of its kind conducted at the national and regional level. In addition, this study can be useful for determining effective therapeutic modalities that can be employed on behalf of those patients among the health care team; particularly nurses.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundCardiac cachexia is one of the most prevalent types of cachexia and it is considered as an ominous complication that possibly associated terminal stages of chronic heart failure (CHF), as it consumes the protein-calories reserves of the CHF patients, elderly adults (Tibor Szabó et al, 2013; Tulman, Tripathi, Abel, & Papadimos, 2012)
From the two different hospitals that belong to two different health sectors inside Jordan, this study recruited three hundred Jordanian CHF patients who were conveniently selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria to apply the cardiac cachexia instrument on them
After calculating the total cachexia score for each participating CHF patient by summing up each answered item contained within the cardiac cachexia instrument, the data analysis revealed that the mean of total cachexia scores of the sample was 5.88 (SD= 6.15) with an actual range of 0-26 (Table 3)
Summary
Cardiac cachexia is one of the most prevalent types of cachexia and it is considered as an ominous complication that possibly associated terminal stages of chronic heart failure (CHF), as it consumes the protein-calories reserves of the CHF patients, elderly adults (Tibor Szabó et al, 2013; Tulman, Tripathi, Abel, & Papadimos, 2012). The pathophysiology of cachexia that occurred with CHF patients is not fully understood; because the cardiac cachexia occurred as a result of many factors that contribute in complex imbalances in the catabolic and anabolic processes leading to the wasting and catabolic state (Cavey, 2011; Loncar et al, 2014; Tibor Szabó et al, 2013). Cardiac cachexia is considered as an ominous complication that possibly associated with the terminal stages of chronic heart failure as it consumes the protein-calories reserves of the patients
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