title: Quality of life is impaired similarly in heart failure patients with preserved and reduced ejection fraction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare quality of life (QoL) in heart failure (HF) patients with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF) and HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF) in a well-defined HF population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with HF-PEF [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥40%] were matched by age and gender to patients with HF-REF (LVEF <40%). In the current study, we only included HF patients with a B-type natriuretic peptide level (BNP) >100 pg/mL. Quality of life was assessed by Cantril's Ladder of Life, RAND-36, and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire, and impairment of QoL was adjusted for by BNP as a marker for severity of HF. We examined a total of 290 HF patients, of whom 145 had HF-PEF (41% female; age 72 ± 10; LVEF 51 ± 8%) and 145 had HF-REF (41% female; age 73 ± 10, LVEF 26 ± 7%). All HF patients reported markedly low scores of QoL, both on the general and disease-specific QoL questionnaires. Quality of life between patients with HF-PEF and HF-REF did not differ significantly. When adjusting the QoL scores for BNP, an association between QoL and LVEF was not found, i.e. patients with HF-PEF and HF-REF with similar BNP levels had the same impairment in QoL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quality of life is similarly impaired in patients with HF-PEF as in HF-REF. These findings further support the need for more pharmacological and non-pharmacological studies in patients with HF-PEF.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  NCT 98675639.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, PO Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. t.hoekstra@thorax.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Tialda
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: Ivonne
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lesman-Leegte
authors.forename: Dirk J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: van Veldhuisen
authors.forename: Robbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanderman
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jaarsma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013318:Stroke Volume; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain