Sex and the Heart Failure Patient

When counseling a patient with heart failure on sexual concerns, the clinician should bear in mind that overall anxiety and depression aren’t the only factors that may be playing a role in his or her recovery. Researchers from Wichita State University, Wichita, KS and University of Kentucky, Lexington examined several issues related to sexual activity in 59 healthy people aged 60 or older and 85 patients with heart failure. All study participants completed questionnaires on depression and anxiety, sexual self-concept (which included the subscales of sexual satisfaction, sexual anxiety, sexual self-efficacy, and sexual depression), sexual activity, and demographic and clinical variables.