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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Feb;16(2):150-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2009.08.010. Epub 2009 Oct 22.

Patients' self-assessed functional status in heart failure by New York Heart Association class: a prognostic predictor of hospitalizations, quality of life and death

Richard Holland  1 , Boika Rechel, Karolina Stepien, Ian Harvey, Iain Brooksby
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Patients' self-assessed functional status in heart failure by New York Heart Association class: a prognostic predictor of hospitalizations, quality of life and death

Richard Holland et al. J Card Fail. 2010 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Clinician-assigned New York Heart Association (NYHA) class is an established predictor of outcomes in heart failure. This study aims to test whether patients' self-assessment of functional status by NYHA class predicts hospital admissions, quality of life, and mortality.

Methods and results: This was an observational study within a randomized controlled trial. A total of 293 adult patients diagnosed with heart failure were recruited after an emergency admission at 3 acute hospitals in Norfolk, UK. Outcome measures included number of emergency admissions over 6 months, self-assessed quality of life measured with the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHFQ) and EQ-5D at 6 months, and deaths up to 20 months' follow-up. Patients were grouped into 3 NYHA groups (I/II, III, and IV) based on patients' self-assigned NYHA class (SA-NYHA). A Poisson model indicated an increased readmission rate associated with higher SA-NYHA class (adjusted rate ratio 1.21; 95% CI 1.04-1.41; P=.02). Higher SA-NYHA class at baseline predicted worse quality of life at 6 months' follow-up (P=.002 for MLHFQ; P=.047 for EQ-5D), and was associated with higher mortality rate (adjusted hazard ratio 1.84; 95% CI 1.10-3.06; P=.02).

Conclusions: SA-NYHA class is predictive of hospitalization, quality of life, and mortality among patients with heart failure.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan-Meier graph showing time to death in self-assigned New York Heart Association (SA-NYHA) Class I/II vs SA-NYHA III/IV groups (all patients).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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