Study finds a third of heart failure patients do not rejoin work

A recent study has found that a third of patients hospitalised with heart failure for the first time had not returned to work one year later.

According to lead author Dr Rasmus Roerth from the Copenhagen University Hospital employment was crucial for self esteem and quality of life, as also being of financial importance, in patients with all kinds of chronic illness.

He added that the inability to maintain a full time job was an indirect consequence of heart failure beyond the usual clinical parameters of hospitalisation and death.

Most information on heart failure was derived from studies involving older patients since they were the majority, which had led to a knowledge gap regarding the impact of living with heart failure among younger patients, who perhaps had the most to lose from the condition.

The study included 11, 880 heart failure patients of working age (18 to 60 years) who were employed before hospitalisation for heart failure. Information related to age, length of hospital stay, gender, education level, income, co-morbidities and working status was obtained from Danish nationwide registries.

The researchers found that one year after they were hospitalised for heart failure for the first time, 68 per cent of patients had returned to work, 25 per cent had not and 7 per cent had died.

"Among patients who are alive one year after their first heart failure hospitalisation, 37 per cent did not return to work, which is a substantial proportion," said Roerth, PTI reported.

"It confirms that heart failure significantly reduces a patient's capacity to maintain a normal life and live independently," he added.

The researchers added that younger patients (18 to 30 years) were over three times more likely to return to work than older patients (51 to 60 years).

"This is perhaps not that surprising because younger patients have fewer comorbidities and may have a greater determination to stay employed," said Roerth.