IJCS | Volume 33, Nº1, January / February 2019

37 Molero Junior et al. Valve prosthesis: assessment of quality of life Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2020;33(1):36-42 Original Article valvular prosthesis available with all the characteristics of an ideal prosthesis. 4 Most complications of valvular prosthesis implantation are probably related to the patient rather than the prosthesis per se. 5 In recent years, studies on QoL have been one the main objects of health studies, and has been the focus of discussion forums, lay press, and marketing of products and services. 6,7 One of the methods for assessing QoL is the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), which was validated in Portuguese by Ciconelli et al., 8 This is a generic tool for assessing QoL, easy to apply and understand and relatively short when compared to others. The instrument can be used in individuals older than 12 years and administered either individually or in groups and evaluate physical and mental health in clinical practice. For each question of the SF-36, a score from 0 to 100 is assigned, where a low score indicates poor health perception, loss of function and pain, and a high score indicates good health perception, preserved function and absence of pain. 9-11 The main of this study was to assess the QoL of patients undergoing heart valve replacement and compare it between patients with bioprosthetic valves and patients with mechanical prosthetic valves. Methods The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the ABC Medical School (approval number 043/2011). Between September 2007 and December 2011, 36 patients underwent mitral and/or aortic valve replacement and were invited to participate in a descriptive study about QoL, using the SF-36 health survey and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The convenience sample was composed of 16 men and 20 women, consecutively included in the study. All participants signed the informed consent form. SF-36 health survey The SF-36 survey is a generic questionnaire that assesses multiple dimensions of health-related QoL, which is widely used due to its high applicability and practicality. It is composed of 36 items grouped in eight scales or domains: functional capacity, physical functioning, pain, vitality, social functioning, emotional role and mental health. Among the 36 items, one item specifically compares current with previous (one year or more) perception of health status. 8 Responders are asked to assign a rate from 0 to 100, where 0 denotes the worst health status and 100 denotes the best health status. 8 Sociodemographic questionnaire This questionnaire was used to evaluate personal data (age, sex, height, weight, marital status), diagnosis (type of valve replacement), educational background, occupation, risk factors (including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, systemic arterial hypertension, smoking and diabetes mellitus) and income of the patients. All interviews were conducted by themain researcher. The interviews were scheduled individually, by telephone, and lasted approximately 30 minutes. Statistical analysis Due to non-normality of data distribution (Shapiro- Wilk test, p < 0.05), data were presented as median and 25 th and 75 th percentiles. The Mann-Whitney test was used for comparisons of independent, quantitative variables between two unpaired samples. All analyses were performed using the Stata 11.0 software package, and significance level was set at 5%. Results A total of 36 patients (16 men) were interviewed. Age varied between 19 and 76 years (51.6 ± 15.2 years), 11 were older than 60 years, 14 were aged between 45 and 59 years and the others were younger than 44 years. Almost half of themwere overweight (BMI > 25). With respect to educational attainment, 69.44% had some or completed primary education (Table 1). With respect to the types of surgeries performed, 18 (50%) patients underwent mitral valve replacement, 16 (44.4%) patients underwent aortic valve replacement and 2 (5.6%) underwent mitral and aortic valve replacement, concomitantly. Nineteen patients (52.8%) received bioprosthesis and 17 (47.2%) mechanical prosthesis %). The causes of valve replacement are described in Table 2. Mean postoperative period, which corresponded to the day of the questionnaire, was 32.5 ± 15.5 months (8 - 61 months). In our population, 27.8%of patients wereworking, and 72.2%were retired, out of work or housewives. Regarding