title: Patient-reported outcomes at hospital discharge from Heart Centres, a national cross-sectional survey with a register-based follow-up: the DenHeart study protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient reported health status, which includes symptom burden, functional status and quality of life, is an important measure of health. Differences in health status between diagnostic groups within cardiology have only been sparsely investigated. These outcomes may predict morbidity, mortality, labour market affiliation and healthcare utilisation in various diagnostic groups. A national survey aiming to include all cardiac diagnostic groups from a total Heart Centre population has been designed as the DenHeart survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  DenHeart is designed as a cross-sectional survey with a register-based follow-up. All diagnostic groups at the five national Heart Centres are included during 1 year (15 April 2013 to 15 April 2014) and asked to fill out a questionnaire at hospital discharge. The total eligible population, both responders and non-responders, will be followed in national registers. The following instruments are used: SF-12, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, EQ-5D, Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ), HeartQoL and Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale. The following variables are collected from national registers: action diagnosis, procedures, comorbidity, length of hospital stay, type of hospitalisation, visits to general practitioners and other agents in primary healthcare, dispensed prescription medication, vital status and cause of death. Labour market affiliation, sick leave, early retirement pension, educational degree and income will be collected from registers. Frequency distributions and multiple logistic regression analyses will be used to describe and assess differences in patient reported outcomes at hospital discharge between diagnostic groups and in-hospital predicting factors. Cox proportional hazards regression models with age as the time scale will be used to investigate associations between patient reported outcomes at baseline and morbidity/mortality, labour market affiliation and healthcare utilisation after 1 year.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study has been approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency: 2007-58-0015/30-0937 and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01926145). Study findings will be disseminated widely through peer reviewed publications and conference presentations.
authors.affiliation: The Heart Centre, Unit 2151, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Selina Kikkenborg
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Jette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svanholm
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lauberg
authors.forename: Britt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borregaard
authors.forename: Margrethe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herning
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mygind
authors.forename: Anne Vinggaard
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Anne Illemann
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ekholm
authors.forename: Knud
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Juel
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thrysøe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002300:Cardiac Care Facilities; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cardiology