Social Support Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Quality of Life in Patients With a Left Ventricular Assist Device.
Martha Abshire, Stuart D Russell, Patricia M Davidson and 5 others
PMID 29683872WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with higher stress had worse quality of life.
Those with high social support had better quality of life despite stress and fatigue. No links were found for exercise capacity or healthcare use.
Key findings
01In 62 LVAD outpatients, higher perceived stress was associated with worse quality of life, more depressive symptoms, more fatigue, and less social support.
02When perceived stress was similar, patients with high social support reported better quality of life than patients with low social support after accounting for fatigue.
03The analysis did not produce significant models for exercise capacity or healthcare utilization.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that stress or social support caused changes in quality of life. Only 62 of the planned 80 patients completed the survey, and long clinic visits and complications may have caused self-selection bias. The sample may have under-estimated stress and over-estimated quality of life compared with the total LVAD population. Patients had an average of almost 2 years of LVAD support, which may not represent newly implanted patients. The quality-of-life measure was heart failure specific, not LVAD specific. The study could not tell whether caregivers, healthcare teams, or other sources provided the social support. The coping measure assessed how often strategies were used, not whether they worked. The statistical approach may not have captured all possible confounders.
Declared interests
No conflicts-of-interest declaration is included in the supplied text. The article's publication types list NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social support will improve quality of life. This was a cross-sectional survey of 62 patients, so it cannot show cause, and the sample may have had lower stress and higher quality of life than the wider LVAD population.