Avaliação de aspectos funcionais e de qualidade de vida em duas formas distintas de acometimento da doença de Chagas: sem cardiopatia aparente e cardiopatia chagásica crônica

Abstract

Chagas disease (CD) is an infection caused by protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi that imposes physical, functional and occupational limitations in its various forms of involvement. The aim of this study was to evaluate functional aspects and quality of life in two groups of subjects serologically positive for CD: 1) with no apparent cardiac involvement (n=21) and 2) chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (n=35). All participants underwent initial clinical evaluation, echocardiography and assessment of quality of life, physical activity level, functional capacity and performance. Functional capacity, assessed by the six-minute walk test(6MWT), showed no significant differences between the groups. However, patients with no apparent cardiac involvement reached higher functional performance and quality of life scores, indicating smaller functional impairment and higher levels of daily activities. It was also observed that the factors related to functional performance and quality of life were distinct between the two groups.