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.