The Relationship Between Disease Severity and Quality of Life in Patients With Heart Failure Based on Kansas City Questionnaire

Introduction: The present study aimed to determine the relationship between New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification and disease characteristics on the quality of life scores and the distribution of the scores at different stages of Heart Failure (HF).Materials and Methods: A total of 150 patients with HF participated in this cross-sectional study. The method of data collection was interview based on NYHA classification and using the validated Persian version of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (PKCCQ).Results: According to NYHA classification, 10% of patients were classified as mild HF, 16% as moderate HF, 63% as severe HF, and 11% as very severe HF. Significant differences were observed for total score and the component scores of PKCCQ among four stages of the disease (P 0.001). By comparing the PKCCQ total score and three domains in male and female groups, it was revealed that sex cannot affect quality of life based on PKCCQ total score and its functional areas (P=0.18).Conclusion: Distribution of the quality of life scores in patients with different stages of HF showed that quality of life scores overlap in the severe and very severe stages. Classifying the disease using NYHA classification cannot distinct patients with HF according to impairments in their health status between severe and very severe stages. In addition, the degree of education is the factor that may affect the quality of life.