Can you identify the dependent variables and the independent variables from the
ID: 3170557 • Letter: C
Question
Can you identify the dependent variables and the independent variables from the following Research Study?
Quality of life (QoL) is often impaired in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). A novel nurse-led integrated chronic care approach demonstrated superiority compared with usual care in terms of cardiovascular hospitalization and mortality. Consequently, we hypothesized that this approach may also improve QoL and AF-related knowledge, which in turn may positively correlate with QoL.
Methods and results
In this randomized controlled trial, 712 patients were randomly assigned to nurse-led care vs. usual care. Nurse-led care consisted of guidelines-based, software supported care, supervised by cardiologists. Usual care was provided by cardiologists in the regular outpatient setting. Quality of life was assessed by means of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item
Short-Form Survey (SF-36). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)was used to assess anxiety and depression scores. The AF knowledge scale was used to gain an insight into the patients’ AF knowledge levels. Baseline QoL scores were relatively high in both groups, with median scores ranging from55 to 100.Quality of life significantly improved over time in both groups with no significant differences between the two groups. Atrial fibrillation-related knowledge improved over time and was significantly higher at follow-up in the intervention group, compared with the usual care group (8.23+2.16 vs. 7.66+2.09; P , 0.05). Quality of life was correlated with gender (rs: 25.819 to 22.960),
anxiety (rs: 20.746 to 20.277), depression (rs: 20.596 to 20.395), and knowledge (rs: 0.145–0.245), expressed in Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs).
Conclusion
Quality of life including anxiety and depression improved over time, regardless of the treatment group. The AF-related
knowledge level was better in the nurse-led care group at follow-up. Trial registration information: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier
number: NCT00753259.
Keywords:
Atrial fibrillation † Quality of life † Anxiety and depression † Patient knowledge † Nurse-led care
Demographics:
Patients newly diagnosed with AF, age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, higher level of education, and the use of CHADS2 (clinical prediction measurement rule for stroke ).
Explanation / Answer
Dependent variable is the variable for which we would want the relationship
Independent variables are all those variables that will effect the dependent variable and shall help in explaining the variation in the dependent variable
Based on the information given ,
The dependent variable is Quallity of Life , becuase we are trying the measure the effect of all other variables on quality of life
The independent variables would be
Based on these variables , we are trying to measure the overall QoL value