Objective:
The objective of this study was to explore how older patients self-manage their coronary heart disease (CHD) after undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods:
This mixed methods study used a sequential, explanatory design and recruited a sample of patients (n=93) three months after elective PCI. Quantitative data collected in Phase 1 by a self-administered survey were subject to univariate and bivariate analysis. Phase 1 findings informed the purposive sampling for Phase 2 where ten participants were interviewed. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. This paper will primarily report the findings from a sub-group of older participants (n=47) classified as 65 years of age or older.

Results:
78.7% (n=37) of participants indicated that they would manage recurring angina symptoms by taking Glyceryl Trinitrate and 34% (n=16) thought that resting would help. Regardless of the duration or severity of the symptoms 40.5% (n=19) would call their general practitioner or an emergency ambulance for assistance during any recurrence of angina symptoms.

Older participants weighed less (p=0.02) and smoked less (p=0.01) than their younger counterparts in the study. Age did not seem to affect PCI patients’ likelihood of altering dietary factors such as fruit, vegetable and saturated fat consumption (p=0.237).

Conclusions:
The findings suggest that older people in the study were less likely to know how to correctly manage any recurring angina symptoms than their younger counterparts but they had fewer risk factors for CHD. Age was not a factor that influenced participants’ likelihood to alter lifestyle factors.