Quality of life in chronic disease: a comparison between patients with heart failure and patients with aphasia after stroke

Objectives. This study aimed to describe the impact of heart failure and of stroke with aphasia on quality of life (QoL) and to compare the different domains of QoL in these groups. Background. The prevalence of chronic conditions has increased during the last decades, and chronic diseases such as stroke and heart failure may have a great impact on QoL. Design. Comparative study of patients from two randomised controlled studies. Method. Seventy-nine patients with heart failure and 70 patients with aphasia after stroke were evaluated concerning the severity of their disease and by QoL, as measured with the Nottingham Health Profile, in the acute phase and after six months. Results. The severity of the disease improved between baseline and six month for both groups. Correlations between New York Heart Association (NYHA) class and all QoL domains were seen in patients with heart failure after six months. The degree of aphasia correlated to mobility, social, emotional and total score after six month. QoL in patients with heart failure was more affected in the domains of sleep and energy in the acute phase and in the energy domain at six months. Conclusion. Although low energy is more frequent among patients with heart failure, both groups report poor QoL. Improvement in severity of the disease is not necessarily accompanied by improvement in QoL. Relevance to clinical practice. Nottingham Health Profile can easily be used as a screening instrument, aiming to identify patients at risk for adverse effects on QoL. A better understanding of the subjective QoL of patients with chronic disease is fundamental for health care professionals to be able to identify and support vulnerable patients.