الفهرس 
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Abstract
Heart failure is one of the most prevalent and disabling chronic conditions affecting older adults more than 65 years of age. Heart failure is now possibly the main cause of admission and rehospitalization among elderly people .The most common or predominant factors leading to the elders rehospitalization include ; non adherence with medication ,diet ,activities, functional deficits, diminished follow up visits and high risk behaviors such as smoking and substances abuse .
The aim of the study was to identify the risk factors associated with rehospitalization of elderly patients suffering from heart failure .
The study was carried out at the inpatient cardiology department of the Specialized Medical Hospital in Mansoura affiliated to the Main University .All elderly patients of both sexes attending the previously mentioned setting during 4 months and diagnosed with heart failure since at least one year and admitted to the hospital more than once were included in the study .Their number amounted to 120 elderly patients .
Data was collected using two tools:-
1- A Structured interview sheet was used to collect data about
a) Socio-demographic data such as age ,sex, educational level ,marital status , occupation before retirement , income ,social structure as living alone , and lack of social support .
b) Medical history ; such as , the onset of the disease and its duration , complaints , number of admissions to the hospital and reasons for previous admissions , co-morbidity of the last admission as ( diabetes , hypertension , myocardial infarction ) .
c) Elders knowledge about diet modification ,follow up and patients compliance with medication and risk behavior such as smoking .
2- Assessment of functional abilities of elderly patients suffering from heart failure
- Katz and Akpom 1976 scale was used to assess activity of daily living.
- Lawton and Brody 1969 scale was used to assess instrumental activities of daily living.
Data was collected during a period of 4 months ( from the first of May till the end of August 2006 ) .
The statistical package for social science ’’SPSS’’ was utilized for data analysis and tabulation. The level of significance selected for this study was ’’p’’ equal or less than 0.05.
The main results obtained were as follows:
• The mean age of patients was 68.0 ± 5.6 years. Females were more prevalent than males 52.5% . More than half of the sample 51.7% were married , while 46.7% were widows .