Improvements in health-related quality of life of patients admitted for heart failure. The HF-QoL study.
OBJECTIVE
Heart failure (HF) is associated with a poor prognosis, both in terms of survival and ongoing symptoms. The objectives of this study were to investigate trends in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of a heterogeneous group of HF patients, with a focus on subgroups of particular clinical interest, and to identify determinants of mortality.


METHODS
Prospective study of 883 HF patients discharged from 50 Spanish hospitals and followed for 1 year, during which six HRQoL assessments were carried out using the generic Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire and the specific Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ).


RESULTS
A marked change was noted at the beginning of the study on all dimensions of the SF-36, in its physical (mean 34.1) and mental (mean 40.1) component summary scores, and in the MLHFQ score (mean 37.5). There was a clear improvement in the first month, which subsequently remained unchanged, except in younger patients aged under 40 years whose HRQoL continued to improve progressively. The following predictors of mortality were identified: age, functional class, co-morbidity and baseline HRQoL.


CONCLUSIONS
In patients with HF, HRQoL showed a clear improvement during the first month after hospital discharge but subsequently remained unchanged, except in younger patients, whose HRQoL continued to improve progressively.
Unidad de Epidemiología, Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, España. nsoriano@eapsardenya.cat
Núria
N
Soriano
Aida
A
Ribera
Josep Ramón
JR
Marsal
Carlos
C
Brotons
Purificació
P
Cascant
Gaietà
G
Permanyer-Miralda
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors