CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE

Ethnic differences in patient perceptions of heart failure and treatment: the West Birmingham heart failure project

G Y H Lip¹, H Khan¹, A Bhatnagar¹, N Brahmabhatt¹, P Crook¹ and M K Davies²

¹ University Department of Medicine, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, City Hospital, Birmingham, UK
² Department of Cardiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Gregory Y H Lip
University Department of Medicine, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, City Hospital, Dudley Road, Birmingham B18 7QH, UK; g.y.h.lip{at}bham.ac.uk

Objective: To investigate further the hypothesis that ethnic groups would have different levels of knowledge and perceptions of congestive heart failure (CHF) and treatments for this condition, a cross sectional survey was conducted of patients who were attending the heart failure clinics in two teaching hospitals of Birmingham, UK, that serve a multiethnic population.

Methods: 103 patients with CHF (66 men, 37 women) were surveyed by standard questionnaire: 42 were white, 34 Indo-Asian, 22 Afro-Caribbean, and 5 Oriental.

Results: When asked about their beliefs about control of one’s health, 22 (64.7%) of Indo-Asians felt that God/fate controlled their health. The majority of white patients tended to believe that the greatest factor influencing their health was the doctor (15 (35.7%)). Of the total study cohort, only 68 (66%) of patients were aware of their primary diagnosis of heart failure; the majority of Indo-Asians (21 (61.8%)) were not aware of their diagnosis. Half of Indo-Asians (17 (50%)) felt that heart failure was not severe, in contrast to 40.9% (n = 9) of Afro-Caribbeans and only 19.1% (n = 8) of white patients. Of the study cohort, 38 (36.9%) were taking their drugs because their doctor told them to, a response most common among the Indo-Asians. The majority of Indo-Asians (22 (64.7%)) and Afro-Caribbeans (14 (63.6%)) stated that they did not have, or did not know whether they had enough, information about their drug. The corresponding figure for white patients was 21.4% (n = 9). When asked whether they took their medication regularly as prescribed, 7 (31.8%) of Afro-Caribbeans reported that they did not take their drugs regularly.

Conclusions: Our study has highlighted deficiencies in the knowledge of CHF among patients from ethnic minority groups, as well as deficiencies in the information being given to these patients. There is a clear need to invest more in patient education for CHF, with special emphasis on certain high risk subgroups.

Keywords: ethnic groups; heart failure; patient knowledge

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Chambers, S. A., Raine, R., Rahman, A., Isenberg, D. (2009). Why do patients with systemic lupus erythematosus take or fail to take their prescribed medications? A qualitative study in a UK cohort. Rheumatology (Oxford) 48: 266-271 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Samanta, A., Johnson, M. R. D., Guo, F., Adebajo, A. (2009). Snails in bottles and language cuckoos: an evaluation of patient information resources for South Asians with osteomalacia. Rheumatology (Oxford) 48: 299-303 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kumar, K., Gordon, C., Toescu, V., Buckley, C. D., Horne, R., Nightingale, P. G., Raza, K. (2008). Beliefs about medicines in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus: a comparison between patients of South Asian and White British origin. Rheumatology (Oxford) 47: 690-697 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Matiti, M. R. (2008). "I didn't tell them. Well, they never ask". Lay understandings of hypertension and their impact on chronic disease management: implications for nursing practice in primary care. Journal of Research in Nursing 13: 100-101