Monitoring of body weight for heart failure patients: variability of weight and self-reporting

Monitoring of patients´ weight has an important role in medical care. It has particular importance for the home management of patients with heart failure. The monitoring of daily weights plays a critical role in keeping their disease under control. In this study we explore the accuracy, inherent normal variability, and clinically significant changes in weight by observing daily weights in a sample of 44 patients with heart failure. Our analysis shows that self-reported weights are fairly reliable for the purposes of being able to detect early complications due to the heart failure disease process.