Table 1.
Patient demographics.
| Intervention group (n = 38) Mean ± SD or n (%) |
Control group (n = 40) Mean ± SD or n (%) |
Statistics | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years | 65.82 ± 9.87 | 61.63 ± 12.47 | t = 1.63 |
| df = 76 | |||
| P = 0.10 | |||
| Gender | x 2 = 1.63 | ||
| Male | 24 (57.9) | 19 (47.5) | df = 1 |
| Female | 16 (42.1) | 21 (52.5) | P = 0.38 |
| Educational level | |||
| Illiterate | 20 (52.6) | 26 (65) | x 2 = 6.44 |
| Primary | 12 (31.6) | 5 (12.5) | df = 5 |
| High school | 6 (19.4) | 6 (15) | P = 0.26 |
| University | 0 | 1 (2.5) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Single | 0 | 2 (5) | X 2 = 4.19 |
| Married | 31 (81.6) | 35 (87.5) | df = 3 |
| Widowed, divorced | 7 (18.2) | 3 (7.5) | P = 0.24 |
| Occupation | |||
| Housewife | 16 (42.1) | 21 (52.5) | X 2 = 2.61 |
| Employee | 1 (2.6) | 2 (5) | df = 3 |
| Private | 12 (31.6) | 7 (17.5) | P = 0.24 |
| Unemployed, and so forth | 9 (22.7) | 10 (25) | |
|
| |||
| Heart failure illness and treatment characteristics | |||
|
| |||
| NYHA functional class | x 2 = 0.05 | ||
| III | 20 (52.6) | 18 (45) | df = 1 |
| IV | 18 (47.4) | 22 (55) | P = 0.82 |
| Ejection fraction | 25.73 ± 9.20 | 24.05 ± 8.94 | t = 0.5 |
| df = 75 | |||
| P = 0.61 | |||
| Aetiology | |||
| Ischaemic | 11 (28.9) | 15 (37.5) | x 2 = 5.01 |
| Hypertensive & dilated | 18 (47.4) | 12 (20) | df = 6 |
| Cardiomyopathy & valvular | 8 (21) | 8 (20) | P = 0.54 |
| Medication | |||
| Diuretic | 6 (15) | 4 (10) | X 2 = 0.92 |
| Beta blockers and diuretic | 11 (28.9) | 9 (22.5) | df = 2 |
| Digoxin and diuretic | 21 (55.3) | 27 (67.5) | P = 0.63 |