QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART FAILURE. THE ROLE OF TREATMENT

INTRODUCTION. Chronic heart failure (CHF) is one of the major chronic diseases which affect quality of life (QoL). In our field, only one study has been addressed to study the QoL in outpatient primary care of clinically stable CHF patients with a low degree of functional capacity. There is an imperative need to measure QoL in severe CHF patients. OBJECTIVE. To describe the QoL of patients suffering from chronic heart failure in hospital's Heart Failure Unit (HFU) and correlate it to therapeutic factors. METHOD. A QoL cross-sectional study was performed to 87 patients with CHF, using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Patients were recruited from the HFU of University Health Care Complex in Leon, Spain. RESULTS. Patients were mostly elderly (13.3 +/- 71.3 years), predominantly male (70.6 %). 94.5 % were treated with diuretics, 74.1 % with angiotensin-convertingenzyme inhibitors and/or angiotensin II receptor blockers, 85.9 % were treated with beta-blockers and 21 % had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The total QoL score in the physical component summary was 33.2 +/- 10.6 and the mental component summary showed a score of 48.9 +/- 13.1. The highest value was found in the emotional role (45.5) and the lowest in physical function (33.1). CONCLUSIONS. The perceived QoL in patients with CHF is significantly altered in all its dimensions. Patients perceive a stronger physical than emotional deterioration. Among all drugs studied, the betablocker therapy is one that represented greater benefits, impacting positively on patient's QoL physical dimensions.