Using an individualised quality of life measure in older heart failure patients.

BACKGROUND: Existing tools purporting to measure quality of life in heart failure do not allow expression of individual needs and preferences. The Patient Generated Index is a recently introduced tool that allows individualised assessment of quality of life.
METHODS: 59 patients aged 65 years and over with a clinical diagnosis of chronic heart failure were administered the Patient Generated Index at baseline, 1 week and 12 weeks, along with the Guyatt chronic heart failure questionnaire, Minnesota Living with Heart failure questionnaire and Short Form-12 tool. Changes in questionnaire scores were used to calculate reproducibility and responsiveness to change. Comparison of Patient Generated Index scores with the other questionnaires and with New York Heart Association class was used to determine construct validity.
RESULTS: All four questionnaires were completed by >90% of participants. Intraclass correlation coefficients denoting reproducibility were high for the Guyatt (0.93) and Minnesota questionnaires (0.89), moderate for the Patient Generated Index (0.65) and Short Form-12 (0.59). Responsiveness to change was similar for all questionnaires, but lower than in previous studies. The Patient Generated Index correlated with New York Heart association class and correlated moderately with the other questionnaires. The most important domains nominated on the Patient Generated Index were walking, performing daily activities, feeling tired and climbing stairs.
CONCLUSIONS: The Patient Generated Index can be administered successfully to older heart failure patients; usefulness is limited by suboptimal reproducibility and responsiveness. Impairment of physical function is the factor most cited by older heart failure patients affecting their quality of life.