Assessing HF Health Status with the KCCQ

Assessing the health status of heart failure (HF) patients is challenging, despite the predictive value of several clinical and laboratory characteristics (e.g., low LV ejection fraction, third heart sounds, elevated BNP level). NYHA classification is used widely, of course, but it is limited by the reporting of symptoms and clinician judgment about those symptoms.

Now, researchers have assessed the value of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), a HF-specific 23-item survey that measures health status and quality of life, for predicting morbidity and mortality in outpatients with HF. Higher KCCQ scores, on a range from 0 to 100, reflect better health status. Of 547 outpatients with LVEFs <40% (mean age, 61; 76% men; 51% with i…