The purpose of this study was to compare men and women on symptoms and functioning outcomes over the first three months after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The Conceptual Model of Symptom Management provided the framework. Symptoms and outcomes such as functioning have been found to differ by gender in other cardiac populations. This study used a descriptive comparative repeated measures design, with four data collection time points of baseline (face-to-face prior to discharge), and 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months (telephone follow-up calls). The sample consisted of 18 men and 14 women post-PCI. Selected symptoms from the Cardiac Symptom Survey were used (angina, shortness of breath, fatigue, problems sleeping, depression, and anxiety). Functioning was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 Acute Version 2 (Physical, Role-physical, Vitality, Role-emotional, Social, and Mental subscales). Repeated measures ANOVA indicated that there were no significant differences between men and women on angina (p > .05). However, women reported significantly (p < .05) more shortness of breath, fatigue, problems sleeping, depression, and anxiety than men regardless of time point. Regarding functioning, women had overall lower scores than men. However, women had much greater amounts of improvement over the three months for five of the six functioning subscales (Role-physical, Vitality, Role-emotional, Social, and Mental). Conclusions to be drawn are that symptom scores were not related to functioning improvements in this sample. More research needs to be done to analyze the relationship between the reporting of symptoms and other outcomes over time in the PCI population, especially regarding women.
Session #1219 - Poster Session I
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)