title: Quality of life and survival in patients with heart failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether self-rated disease-specific and generic quality of life predicts long-term mortality, independent of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, and to explore factors related to low quality of life in a well-defined heart failure (HF) population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A cohort of 661 patients (62% male; age 71 years; left ventricular ejection fraction 34%) was followed prospectively for 3 years. Quality of life questionnaires (Ladder of Life, RAND36, and Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire) and BNP levels were assessed at discharge after a hospital admission for HF. Three-year mortality was 42%. After adjustment for demographic variables, clinical variables, and BNP levels, poor quality of life scores predicted higher mortality; per 10 units on the physical functioning [hazard ratio (HR) 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.14] and general health (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.16) dimensions of the RAND36. Patients with low scores on these dimensions were more likely to be in New York Heart Association class III-IV, diagnosed with co-morbidities, have suffered longer from HF, have lower estimated glomerular filtration rates, and have fewer beta-blocker prescriptions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quality of life was independently related to survival in a cohort of hospitalized patients with HF.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  NCT 98675639.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), University of Groningen, RB Groningen, The Netherlands. t.hoeskstra@umcg.nl
authors.forename: Tialda
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jaarsma
authors.forename: Dirk J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: van Veldhuisen
authors.forename: Hans L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Hillege
authors.forename: Robbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanderman
authors.forename: Ivonne
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lesman-Leegte
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013997:Time Factors