Health-Related Quality of Life after Valve Replacement Surgery

Background: Heart valve disease gradually increases the pressure in the heart chambers and impairs heart pumping. It influences on quality of life due to low output, disability, fear, amnesia, anxiety, and depression. Although most of signs and symptoms in patients with heart valve diseases may significantly decrease after valve replacement surgery, there is limited information about the impact of surgery on patients’ quality of life. Therefore, we aimed to compare the scores of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before and after the surgery in patients undergoing valve replacement surgery in Shahid Rajaei Heart Center, Tehran, Iran. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 102 patients who underwent for valve replacement surgery including mitral valve, tricuspid valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve or combinations of two or more of these valves were selected through convenience sampling method. The MacNew HRQoL questionnaire was used to collect data in this study. Subjects completed the questionnaire in two stages, before and 2 months after surgery. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results: The majority of subjects were female (60.8%) and married (89.2%). Mitral valve disease (52%) and tricuspid valves abnormality (1%) were the most and the least common valve diseases among subjects, respectively. The results indicated an increase in the HRQoL score after valve replacement (p<0.001). The results also showed that there is no significant relation between the HRQoL scores with gender, education level, type of valve dysfunction and income. Conclusion: Overall HRQoL scores in patients with value diseases improve significantly after surgery. Therefore, surgery not only is recommended to relief the symptoms of patients, but also can be considered as an effective strategy to improve the quality of life in patients with valve diseases.