Physical activity and deconditioning of heart failure's patients followed at two Yaoundé's hospitals settings : A cross-sectional study in Cameroon

ABSTRACT Objective To assess the basic physical condition of chronic heart failure's Cameroonian patients. Patients and methods We carried out a cross-sectional study from February to June 2020 at the Yaounde Central and General Hospitals, including all consenting adults with stage I or II chronic heart failure of the New York Heart Association without sign of decompensation and received in outpatient consultation. Socio-demographic data and the level of physical activity assessed according to the International Questionnaire on PhysicalActivity were recorded. Quality of Life was evaluated using the “Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire”. Associated factors were analysed using the Chi-square test, the strength of association expressed by the odds ratio, and its 95% confidence interval. The significance level was 0.05. Results We recruited 102 participants, including 60 women with a median age of 64 [56,68]. Daily physical activity was moderate in 54% of participants and low in 45%, with no significant difference between the sexes (p = 0.3). About 39.2% of patients had an altered physical condition, and the most effective associated factors were obesity (p = 0.01), low daily physical activity (p = 0.002) and non-compliance to the treatment (p = 0.03). The mean Quality of Life score was low (36.7 ± 22.4), and the deterioration in physical condition harmed it (p  Conclusion More than a third of the study population had a poor physical condition, which negatively affected their Quality of Life. Therefore, we can suggest that prescribing appropriate physical activity should be an integral part of heart failure management in our context.