Prognostic impact of self-reported health on clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure

Use of patient-reported outcomes in heart failure: from clinical trials to routine practice

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome that affects mortality/morbidity and acts at different levels in the patient's life, resulting in a drastic impairment in multiple aspects of daily activities (e.g. physical, mental/emotional, and social) and leading to a reduction in quality of life. The definition of disease status and symptom severity has been traditionally based on the physician assessment, while the patient's experience of disease has been long overlooked. The active participation of patients in their own care is necessary to better understand the perception of disease and the multiple aspects of life affected, and to improve adherence to treatments. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) aim to switch traditional care to a more patient-centred approach. Although PROs demonstrated precision in the evaluation of disease status and have a good association with prognosis in several randomized controlled trials, their implementation into clinical practice is limited. This review discusses the modalities of use of PROs in HF, summarizes the most largely adopted PROs in HF care, and provides an overview on the application of PROs in trials and the potential for their transition to clinical practice. By discussing the advantages and the disadvantages of their use, the reasons limiting their application in daily clinical routine, and the strategies that may promote their implementation, this review aims to foster the systematic integration of the patient's standpoint in HF care.

[Short- and long-term follow-up care in patients with infarction-related cardiogenic shock]

Infarction-related cardiogenic shock is the most severe complication of an acute coronary syndrome, that still bears a high mortality up to 50 % and wastes a lot of resources of an intensive care unit, especially if extracorporeal assist devices are used.In contrast to the adverse short-term outcome, patients fare a surprisingly well in the long range, both for survival and quality of life. Same as for the acute disease, which needs specific cardiologic and intensive care measures, long-term follow-up care needs a lot of medical and lifestyle interventions and treatments to obtain the best possible result for the patients. Since there is good evidence for cardiologic therapies from randomized controlled trials, high quality data to treat long-term sequalae of the stay on intensive care unit, are sparse.Overall, follow-up care of survivors of infarction related cardiogenic shock includes the best available treatment of the coronary artery disease, intensified heart failure therapy of left and right heart dysfunction and evaluation for the risk of sudden cardiac death and treatment of sequelae of the intensive-care-unit stay.

Prevalence, Temporal Change, and Determinants of Anxiety and Depression in Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure

BACKGROUND

Anxiety and depression may be under-recognized in patients with heart failure (HF). We therefore investigated the prevalence and temporal change of these symptoms in hospitalized patients with HF.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We prospectively evaluated consecutive hospitalized patients with HF using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) on admission and at discharge. The HADS-A (anxiety) and HADS-D (depression) scores were categorized as follows; 0-7, no symptoms; 8-10, mild; and 11-21, significant anxiety or depression. Symptom worsening was defined as the HADS category at discharge being poorer than that on admission. Of 224 patients (mean age 77.5 years), 35 (16%) and 62 (28%) had significant symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively. During hospitalization, the HADS-A significantly decreased (on admission; median 6 [interquartile range (IQR) 3-9] vs at discharge; median 4 [IQR 2-7], P < .01), whereas the HADS-D did not improve (on admission; median 8 [IQR 5-11] vs at discharge; median 8 [IQR 4-11], P =.82). Anxiety and depression worsened during hospitalization in 19 (10%) and 40 (21%) patients, respectively. Advanced age, higher natriuretic peptide levels, and acute-on-chronic HF were associated with worsening anxiety, and longer hospitalization length was associated with worsening depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Anxiety and depression were common and depression persisted during HF hospitalization.

Patient-Reported Outcomes From Patients With Heart Failure Participating in the Future Patient Telerehabilitation Program: Data From the Intervention Arm of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

More than 37 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with heart failure, which is a growing burden on the health sector. Cardiac rehabilitation aims to improve patients’ recovery, functional capacity, psychosocial well-being, and health-related quality of life. However, cardiac rehabilitation programs have poor compliance and adherence. Telerehabilitation may be a solution to overcome some of these challenges to cardiac rehabilitation by making it more individualized. As part of the Future Patient Telerehabilitation program, a digital toolbox aimed at enabling patients with heart failure to monitor and evaluate their own current status has been developed and tested using data from a patient-reported outcome questionnaire that the patient filled in every alternate week for 1 year.

Objective

The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in quality of life and well-being among patients with heart failure, who are participants in the Future Patient Telerehabilitation program over the course of 1 year.

Methods

In total, 140 patients were enrolled in the Future Patient Telerehabilitation program and randomized into either the telerehabilitation group (n=70) or the control group (n=70). Of the 70 patients in the telerehabilitation group, 56 (80.0%) answered the patient-reported outcome questionnaire and completed the program, and these 56 patients comprised the study population. The patient-reported outcomes consisted of three components: (1) questions regarding the patients’ sleep patterns assessed using the Spiegel Sleep Questionnaire; (2) measurements of physical limitations, symptoms, self-efficacy, social interaction, and quality of life assessed using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire in 10 dimensions; and (3) 5 additional questions regarding psychological well-being that were developed by the research group.

Results

The changes in scores during 1 year of the study were examined using 1-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. There were significant differences in the scores for most of the slopes of the scores from the dimensions of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (P<.05).

Conclusions

There was a significant increase in clinical and social well-being and quality of life during the 1-year period of participating in a telerehabilitation program. These results suggest that patient-reported outcome questionnaires may be used as a tool for patients in a telerehabilitation program that can both monitor and guide patients in mastering their own symptoms.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03388918; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03388918