Routine screening for depression and quality of life in outpatients with congestive heart failure.
The influence of depression and perceived quality of life (QoL) on symptom perception and prognosis in congestive heart failure is well known. The authors therefore introduced routine questionnaire screening for these parameters in patients attending their outpatient heart failure clinic (N=320). The authors found QoL to be significantly reduced, and almost every third patient screened positive for a depressive disorder. These patients got a clearly-defined treatment offer. The present study demonstrates that screening for depression and QoL is feasible without being too complex or time-consuming and easily implementable in an interdisciplinary outpatient setting.
Holzapfel
Nicole
N
Department of Psychosomatic and General Clinical Medicine, Medical University, Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Nicole_Holzapfel@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Zugck
Christian
C
Müller-Tasch
Thomas
T
Löwe
Bernd
B
Wild
Beate
B
Schellberg
Dieter
D
Nelles
Manfred
M
Remppis
Andrew
A
Katus
Hugo
H
Herzog
Wolfgang
W
Jünger
Jana
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011788:Quality of Life