Positive affect as a predictor of non-pharmacological adherence in older Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation

ABSTRACT

In Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) patients, psychological and cognitive variables and their association with treatment adherence have been extensively reported in the literature, but few are the investigations in older people. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychological, cognitive, and adherence to treatment profile of older (>65 years) CHF patients, the interrelation between these variables, and identify possible independent predictors of self-reported treatment adherence. CHF inpatients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation were assessed for: anxiety, depression, cognitive impairment, positive and negative affect, and self-reported adherence (adherence antecedents, pharmacological adherence, and non-pharmacological adherence). 100 CHF inpatients (mean age: 74.9 ± 7.1 years) were recruited. 16% of patients showed anxiety and 24.5% depressive symptoms; 4% presented cognitive decline. Cognitive functioning negatively correlated to depression, anxiety, and negative affect (p < 0.01). The adherence antecedents (disease acceptance, adaptation, knowledge, and socio-familiar support) negatively correlated to anxiety (p < 0.05), depression (p < 0.001), and negative affect (p < 0.05), while they positively correlated to positive affect (p < 0.01). Pharmacological adherence negatively correlated to anxiety and negative affect (p < 0.05). Conversely, non-pharmacological adherence and positive affect positively correlated (p < 0.05). Furthermore, depression and anxiety negatively predicted adherence antecedents (β = −0.162, p = 0.037) and pharmacological adherence (β = −0.171, p = 0.036), respectively. Finally, positive affect was found as an independent predictor of non-pharmacological adherence (β = 0.133, p = 0.004). In cardiac rehabilitation, a specific psychological assessment focused on anxiety, depression, and affect can provide useful information to manage CHF older patients’ care related to treatment adherence. In particular, positive affect should be targeted in future interventions to foster patients’ non-pharmacological adherence.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic heart failure
• old age
• positive affect
• adherence
• cardiac rehabilitation

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, VT, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the ‘Ricerca Corrente’ funding scheme of the Ministry of Health, Italy. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.