Background and Significance
Congestive heart failure remains one of the important health issues that result in the death of thousands of people all over the world. As for the nature of the given problem, congestive heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to perform its functions properly and, therefore, muscles and organs cannot be supplied with enough blood to maintain their essential tasks (Schultz, Rothwell, Chen, & Tu, 2013). In general, specialists single out two different types of heart failure – acute and congestive.
In reference to the distinctive features of the second type, it needs to be said that it can be characterized by the presence of such symptoms as increased fatigability, respiratory embarrassment, water thesaurismosis, and the inability of a person to perform activities aimed at maintaining physical fitness (Scott & Winters, 2015). More importantly, it is necessary to understand that the given type of heart failure is closely interconnected with different problems related to the body mass index of patients and the structure of nutrients in the food they consume. Therefore, it can be important for researchers in the field to pay increased attention to the use of treatment methods that do not involve medicinal drugs as they are supposed to be a good supplement to traditional methods of treatment.
In reference to the significance of the problem of congestive heart failure, it is necessary to state that the given condition affects about four hundred thousand people in the United States, and more than two hundred thousand cases of the disease have fatal outcomes (“Statistics about congestive heart failure,” 2014). Therefore, it is clear that current mortality associated with the condition acts as an important reason to study the topic more thoroughly and find effective ways to improve the situation and reduce the readmission rates.
Problem Statement and Purpose of the Study
Nowadays, there is a wide range of methods involving the use of surgical interventions or medicinal drugs that allow mitigating the consequences of the disease (Gandhi, Mosleh, & Myers, 2014). Nevertheless, when it comes to reducing readmission rates in patients with congestive heart failure, it can be important to assess the effectiveness of additional methods such as a healthy diet aimed at normalization of body mass index in patients having weight problems.
Taking into consideration the fact that the effects of healthy eating on readmission rates have not been addressed in many studies that are available nowadays, it is necessary to extend the knowledge on the topic and define if there are the links between keeping to a special diet on a daily basis without exemptions and the possibility of readmissions in patients with congestive heart failure and increased BMI.
As it follows from the previous section, the necessity to study the effects of healthy eating on readmission rates is extremely important as the results can be considered both by healthcare specialists and patients suffering from congestive heart failure with underlying body mass problems. The proposed research is aimed at studying the connection between the degree of compliance with the special diet and possibilities of readmission in overweight patients older than 40 suffering from congestive heart failure.
Research Question and Hypotheses
The planned research is supposed to study the effectiveness of keeping to a diet for adult overweight patients with CHF who have received medical treatment recently. Considering the fact that there are many subtopics that deserve attention, the proposed study is going to answer a few important research questions. To begin with, it is planned to define whether the degree of compliance with the diet is important when it comes to congestive heart failure. Apart from that, the study will determine the connection between decreased BMI and the health condition of patients with congestive heart failure. In addition, the results of the proposed research are supposed to define whether patients with congestive heart failure keeping to the diet that involves no exemptions are less likely to request medical assistance repeatedly.
The research hypothesis that will be used in the proposed research is the following: Patients with congestive heart failure keeping to the diet without exemptions are less likely to be rehospitalized.
The null hypothesis that will be used in the proposed research is the following: There is no connection between following a diet carefully and readmission rates in patients with congestive heart failure.
Study Variables
Within the frame of a proposed study, the connection between two variables allowing to answer the identified research questions will be studied. The participants are to be chosen among patients with congestive heart failure who have received medical treatment. More than that, there is a range of requirements that the participants should meet; their BMI should be between 25 and 30, and they should be older than forty. During the research, two groups of participants will be identified: those patients who follow the prescribed diet carefully and those who make exemptions from time to time. Therefore, there will be two variables measured for each group of participants: the degree of keeping to the diet as a dependent variable and readmission rates among the patients as an independent variable.
References
Gandhi, S., Mosleh, W., & Myers, R. B. (2014). Hypertonic saline with furosemide for the treatment of acute congestive heart failure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Cardiology, 173(2), 139-145.
Schultz, S. E., Rothwell, D. M., Chen, Z., & Tu, K. (2013). Identifying cases of congestive heart failure from administrative data: A validation study using primary care patient records. Chronic Diseases and Injuries in Canada, 33(3) 160-166.
Scott, M. C., & Winters, M. E. (2015). Congestive heart failure. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, 33(3), 553-562.
Statistics about congestive heart failure. (2014)