Article

Evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQL) is important in
improving the quality of patient care. METHODS:
The HeartQoL Project, with
cross-sectional and longitudinal phases, was designed to develop a core ischemic
heart disease (IHD) specific HRQL questionnaire, to be called the HeartQoL, for
patients with angina, myocardial infarction (MI), or ischemic heart failure.
Patients completed a battery of questionnaires and Mokken scaling analysis was
used to identify items in the HeartQoL questionnaire. RESULTS: We enrolled 6384
patients (angina, n = 2111, 33.1%; MI, n = 2351, 36.8%; heart failure, n = 1922,
30.1%) across 22 countries and 15 languages. The HeartQoL questionnaire comprises
14-items with 10-item physical and 4-item emotional subscales which are scored
from 0 (poor HRQL) to 3 (better HRQL) with a global score if needed. The mean
baseline HeartQoL global score was 2.2 (+/-0.5) in the total group and was
different (p < 0.001) by diagnosis (MI, 2.4 +/- 0.5; angina, 2.2 +/- 0.6; and
heart failure, 2.1 +/- 0.6). CONCLUSION: The HeartQoL questionnaire, with global
and subscale scores, has the potential to allow clinicians and researchers to (a)
assess baseline HRQL, (b) make between-diagnosis comparisons of HRQL, and (c)
evaluate change in HRQL in patients with angina, MI, or heart failure with a
single IHD-specific HRQL instrument.

Langue : ANGLAIS