October 11, 2018Open Access
View Full PaperAssessing Health-Related Quality of Life in Heart Failure Patients Attending an Outpatient Clinic: A Pragmatic Approach
Structured PICO
Is health-related QoL assessment by validated questionnaire feasible and acceptable in outpatient heart failure patients?
P
Population
Heart failure patients attending an outpatient clinic
I
Intervention
Health-related QoL assessment by validated questionnaire
O
Outcome
Acceptability, feasibility, and correlation of HR-QoL scores with NYHA classpatient reported
Routine assessment of HR-QoL using validated questionnaires is feasible in outpatient heart failure clinics and provides value beyond NYHA class alone due to high intra-class variability.
Abstract
Health-related QoL assessment by validated questionnaire was acceptable to patients and feasible to perform in routine practice. Although NYHA class correlated significantly with HR-QoL scores, there was high variability in HR-QoL within each NYHA class, highlighting its limitation as the sole assessment of HR-QoL. Clinicians should encourage the assessment of HR-QoL to facilitate patient-centred care and make more specific use of HR-QoL measurement tools.