The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire: Italian translation and validation.
BACKGROUND
Several studies have demonstrated that patients affected by heart failure have a compromised quality of life and, in the last few years, "health-related quality of life" has become an important outcome indicator for the evaluation of heart failure treatment and a basis for the improvement of its strategies.


METHODS
The translation into Italian of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), a new, 23 item, disease-specific health status instrument for patients with congestive heart failure, and its subsequent validation by asking 50 consecutive patients in our heart failure outpatient clinic to answer it. The KCCQ was compared to the "Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire" (MLHF).


RESULTS
The Italian version of the KCCQ correlates well with the MLHF for all domains with the exclusion of symptom stability score and MLHF emotional domain. However, the KCCQ, due to its multiple domains, provided more detailed information about the patients' status, and identified the more compromised ones.


CONCLUSIONS
The KCCQ appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of a patient's quality of life and the degree of limitations imposed upon him/her by the disease. When compared to the MLHF, the KCCQ, however, is somewhat more sensitive in identifying more compromised patients. This capacity could be advantageously used for the identification of clinical changes in future trials and lead to a better planning of new therapeutic interventions.
Miani
Daniela
D
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, S. Maria della Misericordia Hospital, Udine, Italy. miani.daniela@aoud.sanita.fvg.it
Rozbowsky
Patrizia
P
Gregori
Dario
D
Pilotto
Laura
L
Albanese
Maria Cecilia
MC
Fresco
Claudio
C
Fioretti
Paolo Maria
PM
D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000368:Aged; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors