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Sense of coherence as an independent predictor of health-related quality of life among coronary heart disease patients

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine whether sense of coherence (SOC) at baseline predicts health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at 12–28-month follow-up among patients with coronary heart disease when controlled for sociodemographic and medical variables.

Methods

A total of 179 consecutive patients (58.28 ± 6.52 years, 16.8% women) scheduled for coronary angiography (CAG) were interviewed before CAG and 12–28 months after. SOC was measured with the 13-item Orientation to Life Questionnaire. HRQoL was measured using the Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36), from which the mental and physical component summaries (MCS, PCS) were calculated. The relationship between SOC and HRQoL was examined using regression analyses.

Results

SOC proved to be a significant predictor of the MCS-score (B = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.17–0.41) and PCS-score (B = 0.18; 95% CI = 0.06–0.31) when not adjusted for possible confounding sociodemographic and medical variables. After adjustment for sociodemographic and medical variables, SOC remained a predictor of the MCS-score (B = 0.26; 95% CI = 0.14–0.39). SOC also remained a predictor of the PCS-score when controlled for gender, age and family income; however, the association disappeared after adjustment for functional status (B = 0.07; 95% CI = −0.05 to 0.19).

Conclusions

SOC is a predictor of mental and physical HRQoL at 12–28-month follow-up, crude and also after adjustment. Patients undergoing CAG with low SOC thus deserve particular attention in regard to the maintenance and improvement of their HRQoL.

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Abbreviations

HRQoL:

Health-related quality of life

CHD:

Coronary heart disease

SF-36:

Short form health survey questionnaire

SOC:

Sense of coherence

CAG:

Coronary angiography

PCI:

Percutaneous coronary intervention

CABG:

Coronary artery bypass grafting

OLQ:

Orientation to life questionnaire

PCS:

Physical component summary

MCS:

Mental component summary

NYHA:

New York Heart Association

CCS:

Canadian cardiovascular society

CI:

Confidence interval

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the patients with cardiological problems who participated in this study, and also Adriana Sudzinova MD, Helena Vargova MD, Antonia Halecka MD, Diana Matlakova, Eva Hackenberg and Zuzana Skodova PhD for their substantial help in the data collection. This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under contract No. APVV-20-038305 (20%) and No. APVV-0220-10 (60%). Furthermore, this work was partially supported by the Agency of the Slovak Ministry of the Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic for the Structural Funds of the EU under project No. ITMS: 26220120058 (20%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovak Republic

    Barbora Silarova, Iveta Nagyova, Jaroslav Rosenberger, Daniela Ondusova & Jitse P. van Dijk

  2. Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovak Republic

    Barbora Silarova & Iveta Nagyova

  3. Cardiology Clinic, East Slovakian Institute for Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovak Republic

    Martin Studencan & Daniela Ondusova

  4. Department of Social Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Sijmen A. Reijneveld & Jitse P. van Dijk

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  1. Barbora Silarova
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  2. Iveta Nagyova
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  3. Jaroslav Rosenberger
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Correspondence to Barbora Silarova.

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Silarova, B., Nagyova, I., Rosenberger, J. et al. Sense of coherence as an independent predictor of health-related quality of life among coronary heart disease patients. Qual Life Res 21, 1863–1871 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0106-2

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