FATIGUE IN MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION PATIENTS.
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 150
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery.
Description: The purpose of this study was to: (1) describe the severity and the patterns of fatigue experienced by myocardial infarction patients from acute phase to recover; (2) describe the physiological and psychological factors that influence fatigue such as ejection fraction, cardiac output, anxiety, and depression; and (3) to determine the relationships between fatigue perception and demographic and clinical variables such as gender, age, severity of MI and treatment protocols.

A descriptive correlational design with repeated measures was used to describe the patterns of fatigue and physiopsychological variables over a three-week period. Fatigue and psychological variables were measured daily over the 17 day period with the VAS-Fatigue scale and the Profile of Mood States. Quantitative two-dimensional echocardiography was performed serially four times. The sample of 22 MI patients had a mean age of 54 $\pm$ 13 years and 5 were women.

The presence of fatigue severity in MI patients across 17 days ranged from 32 to 45 on the 100 mm VAS-Fatigue scale. Although the severity of fatigue remained the same for the total group over time, cardiac function improved and patients experienced more energy and less anxiety at the third week following an MI.

Results showed that there were five fatigue patterns among the total number of MI patients: decreasing, increasing, unchanged with low fatigue or high fatigue, and curve-linear shaped pattern of fatigue groups over time. Fatigue was significantly and positively related to anxiety and depression, and negatively related to energy and vigor. In addition, there was a trend of relationship between fatigue and EF, peak CPK at admission, and being female.

These results described the severity, duration, and patterns of fatigue in patients with MI. The study finding of five different fatigue patterns after an MI suggests that patients after MI should not be treated as a uniform group who assume to have decreasing fatigue with the passage of time. Also, the findings of this study enhance understanding of the specific variables that relate to fatigue in MI and assist to develop theory for fatigue in order to assess and intervene to reduce perceived fatigue.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: B, page: 4080.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1993.

School code: 0034.