Incidence of Cachexia and its Association with Functional Capacity in Chronic Heart Failure Patients

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is a progressive clinical syndrome with a high morbidity and mortality rate. In such patients Cachexia also known as wasting syndrome or anorexia cachexia syndrome and is very complicated problem which is far dangerous than a loss of appetite. This study was planned to investigate the incidence of cachexia in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients and further elucidate its association with functional capacity and outcomes in affected patients. We assessed cachexia status among 55 patients with CHF (25 females, 30 males, over 35 years old) using a convenient sampling method. Patients were included in this study due to their diagnosis from the outpatient Heart Failure Department of Shalamar Hospital (Trust) in Lahore. Reduction of the body weight was noted upto 6 months. Functional capacity was assessed by the handgrip dynamometer and the short physical performance battery test (SPPB). Results explored 64% of females became cachectic with a mean age of (58.43± 7.25), and 52.7% of males became cachectic with a mean age of (64.15 ±11.02). In this study, the mean value of SPPB was reported lower in the cachectic group than the non-cachectic group (5.0± 2.1 vs. 7.4±0.94) with a mean age of 61.0 ± 9.4. These results reflect that the physical activity level of heart failure (CHF) patients was reduced due to cachexia development and anorexia. Patients with cachexia are more likely to show weakened functional capacity and may lead to higher mortality rate in CHF cachexia patients as compared to non-cachectic patients Additionally, patients who developed cachexia also showed reduced muscular strength and exercise ability. It could be concluded that CHF patients affected by cachexia with the passage of time which might affect adversely the health status of cardiac patients both in male and female.