Global perceived health and health-related quality of life in elderly primary care patients with symptoms of heart failure.
BACKGROUND
The aim was to examine whether a single question about global perceived health (GPH) is associated with the domains of health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) as assessed by the SF-36, and whether the scores in these domains differ from the different scores of the GPH in relation to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).


METHODS
The study included 412 elderly outpatients with symptoms of heart failure (HF). Echocardiography was used to determine their LVEF, and GPH was assessed by the first question on the SF-36.


RESULTS
The correlations between GPH and the different domains in SF-36 ranged from 0.33 to 0.64 in patients with LVEF>or=50% and was between 0.29 and 0.59 in patients with LVEF<40%. Regression analyses revealed GPH to be the strongest predictor of HR-QoL. Patients with LVEF<40% rating poor GPH differed significantly (p<0.05) from those with good or moderate GPH in six of the eight HR-QoL domains.


CONCLUSIONS
One question about GPH gives a good general description of HR-QoL and may therefore be used as a simple tool to assess HR-QoL in elderly outpatients with clinical symptoms of HF.
Johansson
Peter
P
Department of Cardiology, Linköping University Hospital, S-58185 Linköping, Sweden. peter.johansson@aries.vokby.se
Broström
Anders
A
Dahlström
Ulf
U
Alehagen
Urban
U
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013318:Stroke Volume; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013548:Sweden