title: The meaningful use of the review of symptoms in heart failure patients.
abstract: Review of symptoms (ROS) is a time-honored tradition in medicine and has proved to be a case-finding maneuver in general medicine patients. The authors sought to investigate the prevalence of noncardiovascular symptoms in heart failure clinics by assessment of the ROS. Of the collected ROS, shortness of breath (SOB) represented the most frequent recalled symptom (8.6%), whereas fatigue (5.3%) was the most common noncardiac symptom. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that New York Heart Association class could, at least in part, explain the occurrence of SOB (R(2) =.4; P<.05). Importantly, alarm symptoms such as hemoptysis and bloody stools were present in <1% of the cohort. ROS evaluation remains a valuable tool for diagnostics; however, symptom-focused questionnaires should be routinely considered as a time-efficient strategy in the ambulatory specialty clinic.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Jackson Memorial Hospital, 1611 NW 12th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
authors.forename: Henry C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Quevedo
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deravil
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Kathy A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hebert
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D004232:Diuretics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013318:Stroke Volume; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
chemical_list: D004232:Diuretics