Validation of the Portuguese version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) is an important measurement instrument for assessing the quality of life of heart failure patients. Despite being largely used within our context, the questionnaire had not yet been translated and validated into the Portuguese language.


OBJECTIVE
Of this study was to translate and validate the Portuguese version of the MLHFQ for use in heart failure patients.


METHODS
Forty patients with heart failure (30 men, LVEF 30+/-6%, 55% ischemic etiology, classified as NYHA I to III), clinically stable and on optimized drug therapy underwent maximal cardiopulmonary stress testing to assess their physical capacity. Right after the test, the MLHFQ duly translated into Portuguese was administered by the same investigator. The NYHA functional classification was provided by the medical team.


RESULTS
The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ had the same structure and metrics of the original version. There was no difficulty in the administration of the questionnaire or in the patient's understanding of the questions. The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ was consistent with peak VO2, duration of the cardiopulmonary test, and NYHA functional classification. There was no difference in the score mean for the questionnaire between the group of patients with ischemic etiology and the group with non-ischemic etiology.


CONCLUSIONS
The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ proposed in this study proved to be valid for heart failure patients, and constitutes a new and important instrument for assessing quality of life.
Laboratório de Insuficiência Cardíaca e Transplante, Instituto do Coração, Hospital das Clinicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar 44, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. vitor.carvalho@usp.br
Vitor Oliveira
VO
Carvalho
Guilherme Veiga
GV
Guimarães
Dirceu
D
Carrara
Fernando
F
Bacal
Edimar Alcides
EA
Bocchi
D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*