Identification of factors associated with social dysfunction in patients with heart failure

Social dysfunction is adversely associated with individuals' physical and mental quality of life. However, little is known about the status of social dysfunction and its associated factors in patients with heart failure. Our study aimed to reveal the prevalence of social dysfunction, and the associations between fatigue, dyspnoea, anxiety, depression, social connectedness, and social dysfunction in patients with heart failure.

We assessed the social dysfunction, fatigue, dyspnoea, anxiety, depression, and social connectedness using self-report questionnaires among 291 patients (64.13 ± 11.84 years, 53.3% male) with heart failure. Two stepwise forward logistic regression models were employed to identify the factors associated with social dysfunction, and the area under receiver operating characteristic curve was used to calculate the variance of the associated factors accounting for social dysfunction. Of the 291 patients, 76.6% reported social dysfunction. The logistic regression model after adjusting co-variables showed that fatigue [odds ratio (OR) 4.233, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.778-10.081], dyspnoea (OR 0.866, 95% CI 0.756-0.991), depression (OR 1.173, 95% CI 1.037-1.328) were positively associated with social dysfunction, whereas social connectedness (OR 0.394, 95% CI 0.203-0.764) was negatively associated with social dysfunction. Four factors explained 84.5% of the variance of social dysfunction in patients with heart failure.

Social dysfunction is prevalent in patients with heart failure, and fatigue, dyspnoea, depression, and social connectedness are the associated factors. The findings indicate that the key to helping heart failure patients return to social life may be to attenuate fatigue, dyspnoea, and depression and to improve social connectedness.