Impact of COVID-19 on Heart Failure Self-Care: A Qualitative Study.

The interviews were with 17 older adults with heart failure who had previously agreed to be contacted again, recruited by convenience sampling from one Texas area during early shelter-in-place and reopening, so the themes may not apply to other patients, places or later pandemic phases. Participants were 55 years or older, not only adults 65 or older, because the authors included 55-year-olds with heart failure as similar to typical older adults. Twenty of 43 contacted people could not be reached and four declined, so the interviewed sample may differ from people who did not take part. The study used a single data source and no follow-up during the longer pandemic, so it cannot show how self-care changed over time. The Self-Care Maintenance questionnaire had low reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.59), so its average score may be unstable. No participant reported COVID-19 infection, so the study does not describe self-care during or after infection.

The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The article is tagged as supported by NIH extramural research, but the text does not state whether the funder designed or wrote the study.

Do not conclude that the coping strategies reported by participants improved heart failure self-care or prevented symptoms. The study only described what 17 participants said they did during early pandemic restrictions; it did not compare care options or measure health outcomes.