Quality of Life in Older Patients after a Heart Failure Hospitalization: Results from the SENECOR Study

Abstract

Background: Information about health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) in heart failure (HF) in older adults is scarce. Methods: We aimed to describe the HRQoL of the SENECOR study cohort, a single‐center, randomized trial comparing the effects of multidisciplinary intervention by a geriatrician and a cardiologist (intervention group) to that of a cardiologist alone (control group) in older patients with a recent HF hospitalization. Results: HRQoL was assessed by the short version of the disease‐specific Kansas Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ‐12) in 141 patients at baseline and was impaired (KCCQ‐12 < 75) in almost half of the cohort. Women comprised 50% of the population, the mean age was 82.2 years, and two‐thirds of patients had preserved ejection fraction. Comorbidities were highly prevalent. Patients with impaired HRQoL had a worse NYHA functional class, a lower NT‐proBNP, a lower Barthel index, and a higher Clinical Frailty Scale. One-year all‐cause mortality was 22.7%, significantly lower in the group with good‐to‐excellent HRQoL (14.5% vs. 30.6%; hazard ratio 0.28; 95% confidence interval 0.10–0.78; p = 0.014). In the group with better HRQoL, all‐cause hospitalization was lower, and there was a trend towards lower HF hospitalization. Conclusions: The KCCQ‐12 questionnaire can provide inexpensive prognostic information even in older patients with HF. (Funded by grant Primitivo de la Vega, Fundación MAPFRE. number, NCT03555318).