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The importance of socio-demographic factors for the quality of life of adults with congenital heart disease

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Abstract

Purpose

We conducted a study to measure the associations of socio-demographic factors with quality of life outcomes among adults with congenital heart disease (CHD).

Methods

Results are drawn from a questionnaire-based survey in 676 adults with CHD and compared to age and sex-matched controls of a representative national survey. Subjective outcomes were measured as health-related quality of life (hrQoL), health and life satisfaction. The associations of the subjective well-being with the degree of severity of the underlying heart defect and socio-demographic factors such as educational and employment status were quantified in multiple linear regression models.

Results

A significant correlation of the degree of severity of the heart defect was limited to the physical scale of the hrQoL, whereas for the mental scale of the hrQoL and the satisfaction scales, socio-demographic factors showed a stronger association. Furthermore, the associations of socio-demographic factors and subjective well-being were stronger in the patient group than in the control group.

Conclusions

Socio-demographic factors can be significantly associated with the subjective well-being of adults with CHD. In order to assist the surgical successes of the past decades, which have ensured the survival of most of these patients into adulthood, increased attention should be paid to these domains in the care of adults with CHD.

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Abbreviations

CHD:

Congenital heart disease

QoL:

Quality of life

hrQoL:

Health-related quality of life

HS:

Health satisfaction

LS:

Life satisfaction

PF:

Physical functioning

RP:

Role functioning physical

BP:

Bodily pain

GH:

General health perceptions

VT:

Vitality

SF:

Social functioning

RE:

Role functioning emotional

MH:

Mental health

PCS:

Physical component summary

MCS:

Mental component summary

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Lisa Caviglia and Anne Gale for their assistance in the preparation of the manuscript and Professor Hans-Werner Hense for valuable comments on a first draft of the manuscript. Furthermore, we have to thank Marco Heise for data entry and Sabrina Poepke, Michael Frey, Joscha Frei and Wolf Bauer for their assistance in data collection and data management.

Funding

This work was supported by the Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [FKZ 01GI0601].

Conflict of interests

No conflict of interest interfered with this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects, Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Matthäus Vigl, Eva Niggemeyer, Gerda Schwedler & Ulrike Bauer

  2. Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Deutsches Herzzentrum München, TU München, Munich, Germany

    Alfred Hager

  3. Institute of Biometry and Medical Informatics, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

    Siegfried Kropf

Authors
  1. Matthäus Vigl
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  2. Eva Niggemeyer
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  3. Alfred Hager
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  4. Gerda Schwedler
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  5. Siegfried Kropf
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  6. Ulrike Bauer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva Niggemeyer.

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Vigl, M., Niggemeyer, E., Hager, A. et al. The importance of socio-demographic factors for the quality of life of adults with congenital heart disease. Qual Life Res 20, 169–177 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9741-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9741-2

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