Objective: To examine the attribution of age on the ability and adequacy in heart failure self-care maintenance. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional.

Materials and methods: The sample was 301 patients with chronic heart failure. There were 102 adults (age < 60 years) and 199 eldery (age ≥ 60 years). A 5-item Likert's scale was used to grade the the Self-Care Maintenance (SCMT). A total SCMT score ≥ 70 of 100 indicated self-care adequacy. T-test, Chi-square test, and odds ratio were used to compare ability and adequacy in SCMT between the adults and eldery groups.

Results: The mean SCMT ability score of both groups was 57.9 ± 15.6, indicating a fair SCMT ability. Overall, the SCMT ability of the adults group was slightly higher, but not significantly different from the eldery group (59.8 ± 16.8 versus 57.0 ± 14.9, p < 0.13). However, the adults group had better ability in performing regular exercises (72.8 ± 26.3 versus 57.9 ± 23.6, p < 0.001). The overall SCMT adequacy of both groups was similar (χ2 = 6.28, p = 0.08, odds ratio = 2.16, 95%CI = 1.17-3.98). However, the adults group showed more adequacy in performing a regular exercise regime (χ2 = 26.81, p < 0.001, odds ratio = 3.69, 95%CI = 2.22-6.11), while both groups were similar in performing the other four self-care maintenance regimes.

Conclusion: Although the both groups had similar overall SCMT level, the eldery group had fewer ability to perform a regular exercise. More attention should be given to promoting regular exercise in older adults with heart failure.