The National Institutes of Health awarded a $2.7 million grant to Kent State University and three local institutions to examine the effects of cognitive impairment on how heart failure patients manage their disease.
Kent State will collaborate with researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Summa Health System in Akron and University Hospitals Case Medical Center on the four-year project.
The goal of the study is to assess how the mental status of a group of patients with heart failure affects the way they manage this complex condition, said Joel Hughes, associate professor of psychology at Kent State and co-principal investigator of the grant.
Heart failure, which can be caused by coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, happens when the heart can't pump enough blood throughout the body. There are about 5 million heart failure patients in the United States, and the condition contributes to 300,000 deaths each year, according to the National Institutes of Health.
"We know that there's a high prevalence of mild and often unrecognized cognitive problems in heart failure patients," said Hughes, because the underlying causes of heart failure lead to damage in the blood vessels in the brain and inflammation. Heart failure may also rob the brain of the oxygen it needs to perform optimally.
"We're not talking about dementia here, we're talking about stuff where you might have just thought it was age-related or people were just slowing down a little bit. But on further examination people may have issues with how quickly they can think, or how they manage and make decisions, and memory," Hughes said.
The study will recruit a total of 400 patients.
Researchers hope that the study will help identify which types of cognitive impairment are related to specific problems in managing the condition, said Mary Dolansky, assistant professor of nursing at Case and co-principal investigator for the grant.
For example, memory problems may lead to missed medications. But if the impairment is in executive function -- the ability to make complex decisions about care -- a patient may be unable to decide whether to call the doctor or adjust their medications in response to a change in his or her condition.
Hughes believes the study will help researchers identify patients that are at high risk for poor outcomes because of cognitive impairment and lead to ways to help those patients manage their condition better.
We may not be able to change people's level of cognitive functioning very easily, said Hughes, but we may be able to help them compensate better and improve their quality of life, and prevent hospitalizations and increased healthcare use.
-Brie Zeltner, The Plain Dealer
Kent State will collaborate with researchers at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Summa Health System in Akron and University Hospitals Case Medical Center on the four-year project.
The goal of the study is to assess how the mental status of a group of patients with heart failure affects the way they manage this complex condition, said Joel Hughes, associate professor of psychology at Kent State and co-principal investigator of the grant.
Heart failure, which can be caused by coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, happens when the heart can't pump enough blood throughout the body. There are about 5 million heart failure patients in the United States, and the condition contributes to 300,000 deaths each year, according to the National Institutes of Health.
"We know that there's a high prevalence of mild and often unrecognized cognitive problems in heart failure patients," said Hughes, because the underlying causes of heart failure lead to damage in the blood vessels in the brain and inflammation. Heart failure may also rob the brain of the oxygen it needs to perform optimally.
"We're not talking about dementia here, we're talking about stuff where you might have just thought it was age-related or people were just slowing down a little bit. But on further examination people may have issues with how quickly they can think, or how they manage and make decisions, and memory," Hughes said.
The study will recruit a total of 400 patients.
Researchers hope that the study will help identify which types of cognitive impairment are related to specific problems in managing the condition, said Mary Dolansky, assistant professor of nursing at Case and co-principal investigator for the grant.
For example, memory problems may lead to missed medications. But if the impairment is in executive function -- the ability to make complex decisions about care -- a patient may be unable to decide whether to call the doctor or adjust their medications in response to a change in his or her condition.
Hughes believes the study will help researchers identify patients that are at high risk for poor outcomes because of cognitive impairment and lead to ways to help those patients manage their condition better.
We may not be able to change people's level of cognitive functioning very easily, said Hughes, but we may be able to help them compensate better and improve their quality of life, and prevent hospitalizations and increased healthcare use.
-Brie Zeltner, The Plain Dealer