Xianxian Yang,1,* Wenjun Wang,1,* Yue Xu,2,* Weiting Guo,1 Yufang Guo3 

1Department of Emergency, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, 250000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiology, the second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Yufang Guo, School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, No. 44, Wenhua West Road, Lixia District, Jinan, Shandong Province, 250012, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8615269163352, Email guoyufsd@163.com

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the latent categories of fatigue in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), explore their characteristic differences, and identify the associated influencing factors.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 289 patients with CHF who were enrolled at 2 tertiary-level hospitals in Shandong, China, from August to December 2023. The convenience sampling method was used to collect data. Furthermore, the level of fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and social support were evaluated using the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20, Insomnia Severity Index, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Latent profile analysis was performed to elucidate the latent categories of fatigue in the patients. In addition, the risk factors associated with the different categories were assessed using multiple logistic regression analyses.
Results: The average fatigue score was 62.45 ± 13.55. The potential fatigue profile of CHF was divided into three categories: low fatigue group C1 (18.6%), moderate fatigue group C2 (47.4%), and high fatigue group C3 (34.0%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that C3 patients with CHF were mainly characterized by lower ejection fraction (OR = 0.01, p = 0.008), insomnia (OR = 1.19, p = 0.005), and anxiety (OR = 1.20, p = 0.034). C2 patients indicated lower ejection fraction (OR = 0.04, p = 0.040), and C1 patients had higher social support (OR = 0.91, p < 0.001; OR = 0.93, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: This study indicated that CHF patients had significantly heterogeneous levels of fatigue. Therefore, it is recommended that medical staff could adopt more precise interventions according to different category characteristics to improve the outcomes of patients with CHF.

Keywords: chronic heart failure, fatigue, latent profile analysis, influencing factors