Study on the impact of latent classes of ego depletion on self-management behaviors in older adults with hypertension

TL;DR

This study explores how different levels of mental fatigue, called ego depletion, affect self-management behaviors in older adults with hypertension.

Contribution

The study identifies three distinct classes of ego depletion and their associations with self-management behaviors in older hypertensive patients.

Findings

Ego depletion in older adults with hypertension is categorized into low, medium, and high depletion classes.

Self-efficacy and factors like disease duration are significantly associated with ego depletion classes.

Patients in different depletion classes show significant differences in self-management behaviors.

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate latent classes of ego depletion among older adults with hypertension and to analyze the association between different classes and self-management behaviors.

A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 321 hospitalized older adults with hypertension from a tertiary hospital in Wuhu between May and November 2025. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire, the Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale (to assess ego depletion), the Hypertension Self-Management Behavior Scale (to assess self-management level), the Medication Adherence Scale (to assess medication adherence), and the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale (to assess self-efficacy). The latent class analysis was performed to identify latent classes of ego depletion, while univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were employed to explore the correlates of these classes and their association with self-management.

Ego depletion in older adults with hypertension can be divided into three latent classes, namely low depletion (38.63%), medium depletion (43.61%), and high depletion (17.76%). Primary caregivers, hypertension classification, and disease duration were key correlates of ego depletion, and self-efficacy was significantly associated with ego depletion classes (p < 0.05). However, there were significant differences in self-management levels among patients in different classes (p < 0.05).

Older adults with hypertension exhibited relatively high levels of ego depletion with significant heterogeneity. Medical staff should recognize the heterogeneous characteristics and correlates of ego depletion and develop personalized interventions to alleviate ego depletion and improve patients’ self-management abilities.

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