Repeated recall as an intervention to improve memory performance in heart failure patients

Up to 50% of heart failure patients demonstrate aspects of cognitive impairment, including memory deficit. Novel interventions are needed to address memory deficit among heart failure patients.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the testing effect as an intervention to improve memory performance in heart failure patients.

This was a randomized controlled clinical trial (N=84) comparing the memory performance of heart failure patients with and without mild cognitive impairment after a repeated testing intervention. Memory performance was measured by verbal word pair associates recall scores, between attention control and experimental subjects.

Patients had a mean age of 71.7 ± 13.3 years and similar baseline memory (immediate p=.79 and delayed p=.47). Overall, there were no significant differences in memory between experimental and control subjects, respectively (67.2±18.87 vs. 61.9±22.3, verbal word pair associates, t = −1.179, p=.24). In the final hierarchical regression model, age (p=.018) and education (p=.006) were significant predictors of memory performance, with the intervention approaching significance (p=.079).

Although not statistically significant, the intervention group reported better memory. Age and education continue to be significant contributors to memory performance in the heart failure population. Continued development of interventions to improve memory performance in heart failure patients is indicated.