Instruments to assess quality of life in patients with heart failure

Abstract

Introduction : Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome representing the common final pathway of various heart diseases. It is characterized by low exercise tolerance, low survival rates and deteriorated quality of life. Several studies mention Quality of Life (QoL) as an important source of information on how disease truly affects patient's lives. In this context, the assessment of QoL is extremely important to provide data that support the choice of a therapeutic strategy and the assessment of the effectiveness of a treatment. Objectives : This study aimed to investigate and identify the most appropriate and widely used instrument for the assessment of quality of life in patients with HF. Methods : We searched the databases of Lilacs, Medline, Pubmed, Scielo and CAPES to identify relevant articles published in English and Portuguese between 2000 and 2010. Results : We found 25 papers that described, quoted or used instruments for the assessment of QoL in patients with HF. Conclusion : The MLHFQ is the most widely used instrument to assess QoL in patients with HF. Its good metric properties have been confirmed in a large number of studies. In addition, it has a simple structure and is easy to administer, which makes it the most recommended instrument for this purpose.

Effect of a Home-Based Mobile Health App Intervention on Physical Activity Levels in Patients With Heart Failure

“…Health-related quality of life was assessed using a health-specific instrument, the Arabic version of the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). The SF-36 is one of the most commonly used instruments in patients with HF because it is available free of charge, short, easily understood, and simple to score 38–40 . The instrument uses 36 questions to assess 8 dimensions of the patients' perception of how the current health problem impacts their functioning in everyday life.…”

“…The 36-item scores are summed and averaged, with higher scores indicating a better health-related quality of life. The validity and reliability of the SF-36 have been established in a wide range of medical conditions including HF 38–40 . The SF-36 has shown an ability to discriminate among New York Heart Association functional class groups and predict hospitalization or mortality 41–43 .…”

“…The SF-36 is one of the most commonly used instruments in patients with HF because it is available free of charge, short, easily understood, and simple to score. [38][39][40] The instrument uses 36 questions to assess 8 dimensions of the patients' perception of how the current health problem impacts their functioning in everyday life. The 8 dimensions focus on general health perceptions; current physical, social, and psychological functioning; and occupational and social role limitations due to physical or psychological problems.…”

“…The validity and reliability of the SF-36 have been established in a wide range of medical conditions including HF. [38][39][40] The SF-36 has shown an ability to discriminate among New York Heart Association functional class groups and predict hospitalization or mortality. [41][42][43] In the current study, Cronbach α for internal consistency reliability ranged between 0.82 and 0.91 across the 8 subscales.…”

Quality of life of people seeking for acupuncture treatment

“…The concept of "Quality of life" has been in use for the evaluation of therapeutic methods [8][9][10][11][12], including those identified as complementary, alternative or integrative [13][14][15][16][17][18], where acupuncture is part. World Health Organization (WHO) Quality of Life group defines it as "individuals' perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns" [19].…”