OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate chronic, transvenous, unilateral phrenic nerve stimulation to treat central sleep apnea (CSA) in a prospective, multicenter, nonrandomized study. BACKGROUND CSA occurs predominantly in patients with heart failure and increases the risk for morbidity and mortality. Established therapies for CSA are lacking, and those available are limited by poo...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHF-Q) in patients with atrial fibrillation. DESIGN A prospective study of the patients who underwent DC electrical cardioversion. SETTING Clinics of cardiology and thoracic surgery of the University Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The disease-specific...

We performed a cross-cultural adaptation of the "Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire" (LHFQ) for use in German-speaking chronic heart failure patients. The instrument was translated and back translated, pre-tested and reviewed by a committee. The German version was tested in 114 patients with chronic heart failure. Reliability was assessed by a test-retest procedure and Cronbach's...

Background—Assessment of dyspnea, fatigue and physical disability is fundamental to the monitoring of patients with heart failure (HF). A plethora of patient-reported measures exist, but most are too burdensome or imprecise to be useful in clinical practice. New techniques used for computer adaptive tests (CAT) may be able to address these problems. The purpose of this study was to build a CAT ...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to study whether patient-reported outcomes, measured by quality of life (QoL) and functional class, are sensitive to pleural effusion (PLE) in patients with heart failure (HF), and to study changes in QoL and functional class during follow-up of PLE. METHODS A cohort of 62 patients from an outpatient HF clinic was included. The amount of PLE was quantified using a pocket-s...

BACKGROUND The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was used in a large, multinational, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to measure adverse effects of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF) on patients' lives and the effects of irbesartan. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients with symptomatic HF-PEF were randomly assigned to irbesartan (up to 300 mg daily) or...

Introduction Modern methods and telemonitoring manage care and control of chronic diseases has improved, meanwhile, the hospital use traditional methods to teach their patients. Aim: to compare the effectiveness of three methods of follow-up (SMS, telephone and regular follow up) on the quality of life in heart failure patients. methods In the randomized clinical trial, , patients with heart fa...

BACKGROUND Assessment of dyspnea, fatigue, and physical disability is fundamental to the monitoring of patients with heart failure (HF). A plethora of patient-reported measures exist, but most are too burdensome or imprecise to be useful in clinical practice. New techniques used for computer adaptive tests (CATs) may be able to address these problems. The purpose of this study was to build a CA...

Until recently, assessment of patients with pulmonary hypertension has mainly relied on functional and haemodynamic parameters. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL), however, has become increasingly important in defining overall health status. The present study investigated the performance and clinical relevance of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLHF) questionnaire by prospectively ...