عوامل موثر بر سلامتی مرتبط با کیفیت زندگی در بیماران بستری شده با نارسایی قلبی Factors Affecting Health Related Quality of Life in Hospitalized Patients with Heart Failure

1. Introduction Heart failure (HF) is a global public and clinical health problem that is expanding at an alarming rate due to the ageing of population and the improvement in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease [1–3]. More than 5.8 million in the United States and more than 23 million worldwide suffer from the disease [2, 3]. Each year, 550,000 new cases are diagnosed [2–4], while this number is predicted to reach 1.5 million annually by 2040 [4]. Disease prevalence is increasing with age; in more detail, it affects approximately 2–5% of adults aged 65–75 and >10% of adults aged 80 and older [5, 6]. HF is more frequent in men than in women [6]. This life-threatening disease is also associated with high morbidity, mortality, and rehospitalizations [2, 3]. After diagnosis of HF, survival estimates are 50% and 10% at 5 and 10 years, respectively [2]. In regard to severe HF, more than 50% of patients die within one year after diagnosis [2, 5]. Moreover, HF is responsible for 1 million hospitalizations, in the United States and Europe annually [7, 8]. After discharge, rates of rehospitalization approach 30% within 60 to 90 days [7]. Exacerbation of symptoms accounts for 50% of readmissions within six months [4]. Although HF may be caused by several medical states, the prevalent etiology is ischemic heart disease mainly in the western world. In more detail, approximately 36% of patients with myocardial infarction will develop heart failure after 7-8 years [9, 10]. HF imposes a tremendous burden on patients, care givers, society, and health care system of each country. Indeed, HF patients experience various physical and psychosocial problems that affect their health related quality of life (HRQOL) [1, 11]. HF patients’ HRQOL is a valuable measure for the outcome of the disease [11]. To the best of our knowledge, little is known about determinants of HRQOL in the hospitalized HF population in Greece.