Self-reported ischemic heart disease: Prevalence, sociodemographics, health behavior, health-care utilization, and quality of life

Shan Alphin, Mette Kjøller, Michael Davidsen, Nina Konstantin Nissen, Ann-Dorthe Olsen Zwisler

Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark;.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpm.2012.22035                

Abstract

The aim of this study was to present the prevalence of self-reported Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) based on a national population-based survey and to characterize people with self-reported IHD with respect to health behavior, risk factors, health-care services utilization and health-related HRQoL; further to compare people with self-reported IHD to those with other chronic illness and people without chronic illness. Based on the Danish Health Interview Survey 2005 (SUSY), a sample of 10,983 persons aged 35 years or older was examined. Data was collected through personal interviews (response rate = 66.7%) and self-administered questionnaires (51.5%). The sample was divided into three mutual exclusive groups: IHD; other chronic illnesses; and no chronic illness. The prevalence of IHD was 5.6% (5.2 - 6.0). The disease was more common in men than women, and the average age was 67.5 years. People with self-reported IHD were characterized as having poorer health behaviors; more risk factors: 40% smokers, 21% sedentary lifestyle, 26% obese; higher utilization of the health-care services; and poorer HRQoL. When compared to people with other chronic diseases, people with IHD continued to show the same characteristics. The IHD group had more problems affecting their daily lives than the other two groups. The issues that affected the people with IHD have also been shown to increase the load on the health-care system. Therefore, it is important to the patients, health-care, and society that the prevalence of IHD is reduced and the burden of disease is made a priority.

Keywords

Ischemic Heart Disease; Lifestyle; Health-Care Utilization; Risk Factors; Health-Related Quality of Life; SF-36

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Tunstall-Pedoe, H. (2005) Preventing chronic diseases. A vital investment: WHO global report. World Health Organization, Geneva, 200 p. http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/en/
[2]	Meetoo, D. (2008) Chronic diseases: The silent global epidemic. British Journal of Nursing, 17, 1320-1325.
[3]	Abildstrom, S.Z., Rasmussen, S. and Madsen, M. (2002) Significant decline in case fatality after acute myocardial infarction in Denmark—A population-based study from 1994 to 2001. Scandinavian Cardiovascular Journal, 36, 287-291. doi:10.1080/140174302320774492
[4]	Kruse, M., Davidsen, M., Madsen, M., Gyrd-Hansen, D. and Sorensen, J. (2008) Costs of heart disease and risk behavior: Implications for expenditure on prevention. Scandinavian Cardiovascular Journal, 36, 850-856. doi:10.1177/1403494808095955
[5]	Ekholm, O., Hesse, U., Davidsen, M. and Kj?ller, M. (2009) The study design and characteristics of the Danish national health interview surveys. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37, 758-765. doi:10.1177/1403494809341095
[6]	Oldridge, N.B. and Stump, T.E. (2004) Heart disease, comorbidity, and activity limitation in community-dwelling elderly. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 11, 427-434.
[7]	Taylor, R.S., Brown, A., Ebrahim, S., Jolliffe, J., Noorani, H., Rees, K., et al. (2004) Exercise-based rehabilitation for patients with coronary heart disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The American Journal of Medicine, 116, 682-692. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2004.01.009
[8]	Leon, A.S., Franklin, B.A., Costa, F., Balady, G.J., Berr, K.A., Stewart, K.J., et al. (2005) Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Circulation, 111, 369-376. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000151788.08740.5C
[9]	Dempster, M. and Donnelly, M. (2000) Measuring the health related quality of life of people with ischemic heart disease. Heart, 83, 641-644. doi:10.1136/heart.83.6.641
[10]	Brown, N., Melville, M., Gray, D., Young, T., Munro, J., Skene, A.M., et al. (1999) Quality of life four years after acute myocardial infarction: Short form 36 scores compared with a normal population. Heart, 81, 352-358.
[11]	National Institute of Public Health. (2006) Danish health interview survey 2005: Questionnaire for personal inter- views with response frequencies. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen. http://www.niph.dk/upload/2005_questionnaire_for_personal_interviews_with_response_frequencies.pdf
[12]	National Institute of Public Health. (2006) Danish health interview survey 2005: Self administered questionnaire 1. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen. http://www.niph.dk/upload/2005_self-administrated_questionnaire_i.pdf
[13]	Sarkar, U., Ali, S. and Whooley, M.A. (2009) Self-efficacy as a marker of cardiac function and predictor of heart failure hospitalization and mortality in patients with stable coronary heart disease: Findings from the Heart and Soul Study. Health Psychology, 28, 166-173. doi:10.1037/a0013146
[14]	Bjorner, J.B., Thunedborg, K., Kristensen, T.S., Modvig, J. and Bech, P. (1998) The Danish SF-36 health survey: Translation and preliminary validity studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 51, 991-999. doi:10.1016/S0895-4356(98)00091-2
[15]	McHorney, C.A., Ware, J.E. Jr., Lu, J.F. and Sherbourne, C.D. (1994) The MOS 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36): III. Tests of data quality, scaling assumptions, and reliability across diverse patient groups. Medical Care, 32, 40-66. doi:10.1097/00005650-199401000-00004
[16]	Whittaker, J. (2008) Graphical models in applied multivariate statistics. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., West Sussex,
[17]	Primatesta, P., Allender, S., Ciccarelli, P., Doring, A., Graff- Iversen, S., Holub, J., et al. (2007) Cardiovascular surveys: Manual of operations. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 14, S43-S61. doi:10.1097/01.hjr.0000277988.18096.3b
[18]	Vogeli, C., Shields, A.E., Lee, T.A., Gibson, T.B., Marder, W.D., Weiss, K.B., et al. (2007) Multiple chronic conditions: prevalence, health consequences, and implications for quality, care management, and costs. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22, 391-395. doi:10.1007/s11606-007-0322-1
[19]	Rasmussen, L.B., Matthiessen, J., Biltoft-Jensen, A. and Tetens, I. (2007) Characteristics of misreporters of dietary intake and physical activity. Public Health Nutrition, 10, 230-237. doi:10.1017/S136898000724666X
[20]	Yusuf, S., Hawken, S., Ounpuu, S., Dans, T., Avezum, A., Lanas. F., et al. (2004) Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): Case-control study. Lancet, 364, 937-952. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17018-9
[21]	Lorig, K.R. and Holman, H. (2003) Self-management education: history, definition, outcomes, and mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 26, 1-7. doi:10.1207/S15324796ABM2601_01
[22]	Lau-Walker, M. (2007) Importance of illness beliefs and self-efficacy for patients with coronary heart disease. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 60, 187-198. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04398.x
[23]	Idler, E.L. and Benyamini, Y. (1997) Self-rated health and mortality: A review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 21-37. doi:10.2307/2955359
[24]	Due, P., Holstein, B., Lund, R., Modvig, J. and Avlund, K. (1999) Social relations: Network, support and relational strain. Social Science & Medicine, 48, 661-673. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00381-5
[25]	Berkman, L.F. (1995) The role of social relations in health promotion. Psychosomatic Medicine, 57, 245-254.
[26]	Alonso, J., Ferrer, M., Gandek, B., Ware, J.E. Jr., Aaronson, N.K., Mosconi, P., et al. (2004) Health-related quality of life associated with chronic conditions in eight countries: results from the International Quality of Life As- sessment (IQOLA) Project. Quality of Life Research, 13, 283-298. doi:10.1023/B:QURE.0000018472.46236.05
[27]	Klein, R., Baron, E., Klein, J. and Benbenishty, R. (2007) The impact of sexual therapy on patients after cardiac events participating in a cardiac rehabilitation program. European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation, 14, 672-678. doi:10.1097/HJR.0b013e3282eea52d
[28]	Drory, Y., Kravetz, S. and Weingarten, M. (2000) Comparison of sexual activity of women and men after a first acute myocardial infarction. American Journal of Cardiology, 85, 1283-1287. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(00)00756-6
[29]	Cassar, A., Holmes, D.R. Jr., Rihal, C.S. and Gersh, B.J. (2009) Chronic coronary artery disease: diagnosis and management. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 84, 1130-1146. doi:10.4065/mcp.2009.0391
[30]	Wenger, N.K. (2008) Current status of cardiac rehabilitation. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 51, 1619-1631. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2008.01.030