Comparison of Life Satisfaction in Patients with Congenital Heart Diseases

Abstract

Background: Congenital heart diseases (CHD) constitute a wide range of heart abnormalities. Major advances in surgical treatments have led to a rapidly growing number of surviving individuals. Living well to most people is as important as living longer. Currently, there are few studies on this group of patients regarding their satisfaction with life. Objectives: This study attempts to compare satisfaction with life among CHD patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients with cyanotic and acyanotic CHD were enrolled. Satisfaction with Life was assessed using SWLS. Results: Eighty patients (52.05% females) with cyanotic (21.3%) and acyanotic CHD were enrolled. The patients with cyanotic CHD were as satisfied with their life as the patients with acyanotic CHD. There were no statistical significant differences between cyanotic and acyanotic patients regarding satisfaction with life. Younger age was associated with a higher degree of satisfaction with life. Women and patients with a history of corrective cardiac surgery were more satisfied with their life. Correlations between satisfaction with life and age and sex were not statistically significant. Conclusions: We found that the patients with cyanotic CHD were as satisfied with their life as acyanotic patients. The results of our study indicate that life satisfaction was not associated with age, sex, and the history of corrective cardiac surgery.