title: [Quality of life in patients with heart failure: the perspective of primary health care].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure and identify the dimensions and determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic heart failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional study, in which HRQoL was measured with the short-form (SF)-36 and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) in 544 clinically-stable patients with chronic heart failure managed by 97 primary care physicians.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients was 77.6 years (SD: 9.9) and was significantly higher in women. A total of 31.2% were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) grade III-IV and 88.6% had at least one chronic condition. In both questionnaires, physical dimensions scored worse than emotional dimensions. After adjustment was made for multiple regression, seven variables entered into one of the five models and explained between 22% and 36% of the variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HRQoL in patients with chronic heart failure is impaired across all domains. Being female and being in NYHA functional class III-IV, as well as other factors such as depression, osteoarticular disease, hospital admission, body mass index and age, were associated with poorer self-perceived HRQoL.
authors.affiliation: Gerencia de Atención Primaria, León, España. jnaveiror@saludcastillayleon.es
authors.forename: José Cesáreo
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Naveiro-Rilo
authors.forename: Ma Dulcinea
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Diez-Juárez
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flores-Zurutuza
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-García
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rebollo-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romero Blanco
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life