Perceived Health among Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Four Months after a Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: Perceived health (PH) has become an important outcome measure among coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. Poor PH has been shown to predict morbidity and mortality among CHD patients. Objective: The objective of this paper was to examine CHD patients’ PH after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study (n = 416) was conducted across five hospitals in Finland during 2013. A self-report questionnaire of PH was used, which comprises EuroQoL five-dimensional scale (EQ-5D-5L), EuroQoL visual analog scale (EQ-VAS), and 18 background variables. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate methods. Results: Female gender, previous PCI, physical inactivity and slight vegetable consumption were associated with reduced PH among post-PCI patients. Seventy percent of the sample reported problems in some PH dimension. Conclusions: Post-PCI patients should be encouraged to pursue a healthy lifestyle, which seems to have a beneficial effect on PH. Females, elderly, or those demonstrating lower education, physical inactivity, slight vegetable consumption, longer duration of CHD, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or previous invasive treatment should be afforded special attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]