Global perceived health and health-related quality of life in elderly primary care patients with symptoms of heart failure

Background: The aim was to examine whether a single question about global perceived health (GPH) is associated with the domains of health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) as assessed by the SF-36, and whether the scores in these domains differ from the different scores of the GPH in relation to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Method: The study included 412 elderly outpatients with symptoms of heart failure (HF). Echocardiography was used to determine their LVEF, and GPH was assessed by the first question on the SF-36. Results: The correlations between GPH and the different domains in SF-36 ranged from 0.33 to 0.64 in patients with LVEF >= 50% and was between 0.29 and 0.59 in patients with LVEF<40%. Regression analyses revealed GPH to be the strongest predictor of HR-QoL. Patients with LVEF<40% rating poor GPH differed significantly (p<0.05) from those with good or moderate GPH in six of the eight HR-QoL domains. Conclusion: One question about GPH gives a good general description of HR-QoL and may therefore be used as a simple tool to assess HR-QoL in elderly outpatients with clinical symptoms of HE (C) 2007 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.