Self-care Behavior and Frailty Syndrome among Elderly Patients with Heart Failure

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The development of technology gives an impact on life expectancy in the elderly. In Yogyakarta, the total of the elderly was higher than in other provinces in Indonesia. The elderly experience a decreased functional state that may lead to impaired body organs, such as heart failure. Heart failure has increasingly become a serious health problem. At present, 80% of elderly patients experience heart failure because of a decrease in functional status. The elderly may also experience frailty syndrome, which can provide a poor prognosis in terms of mortality, rehospitalization, and quality of life. It needs complex management; one of these is self-care behavior that can prevent the spread of frailty syndrome. AIM: The study aims to assess the correlation between self-care behavior and frailty syndrome in elderly patients with heart failure. METHODS: The study included 87 elderly patients with heart failure who visited the cardiology outpatient unit in two private hospitals. Self-care was measured using the self-care heart failure index, and frailty syndrome was assessed using the frailty index. A correlation test was conducted using Spearman rho. RESULTS: The result showed inadequate self-care behavior with a mean score of 48.70. The mean score of frailty syndrome was 0.142, categorized in the pre-frail phase. No correlation was found between self-care behavior and frailty syndrome with p=0.20. CONCLUSION: Self-care behavior in elderly patients with heart failure is still inadequate and in the pre-frail phase. Nurses and other health professionals should consider intervention to increase self-care behavior among the elderly and screening to increase their awareness of frailty syndrome.