Health-Related Quality of Life and Mortality in Heart Failure: The Global Congestive Heart Failure Study of 23,000 Patients from 40 Countries.

Background: Poor health-related quality of life (HRQL) is common in heart failure (HF), but there are few data on HRQL in HF and the association between HRQL and mortality outside Western countries. Methods: We used the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ)-12 to record HRQL in 23,291 HF patients from 40 countries in 8 different world regions in the Global Congestive Heart Failure study (G-CHF). We compared standardized KCCQ-12-summary scores (SS; adjusted for age, sex and markers of HF severity) between regions (0-100, higher=better HRQL). We used multivariable Cox regression with adjustment for 15 variables to assess the association between KCCQ-12-SS and the composite of all-cause death, of HF hospitalization and each component over a median follow-up of 1.6 years. Results: The mean age was 65 years, 61% were men, 40% had NYHA class III-IV symptoms, and 46% had left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) ≥40%. Average HRQL differed between regions (lowest in Africa [39.5 SE±0.3], highest in Western Europe [62.5±0.4]). There were 4,460 (19%) deaths, 3,885 (17%) HF hospitalizations and 6,949 (30%) had either event. Lower KCCQ-12-SS was associated with higher risk of all outcomes, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for each 10-unit KCCQ-12-SS decrement was 1.18 (95% CI 1.17-1.20) for death. Although this association was observed in all regions, it was less marked in South Asia, South America and Africa (weakest association in South Asia, HR 1.08 [95% CI 1.03-1.14], strongest in Eastern Europe HR 1.31 [95% CI [1.21-1.42], interaction p<0.0001). Lower HRQL predicted death in both those with NYHA class I-II and III-IV symptoms (HR 1.17 [95% CI 1.14-1.19] and HR 1.14 [95% CI [1.12-1.17], interaction p=0.13) and was a stronger predictor for the composite outcome in NYHA class I-II vs. III-IV (HR 1.15 [95% CI 1.13-1.17] vs. 1.09 [95% CI [1.07-1.11], interaction p<0.0001). HR for death was greater in EF ≥40 vs. <40% (HR 1.23 [95% CI 1.20-1.26] and HR 1.15 [95% 1.13-1.17], interaction p<0.0001). Conclusions: HRQL is a strong and independent predictor of all-cause death and HF hospitalization across all geographic regions, in mildly and severe symptomatic HF and among those with preserved and reduced EF. Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov Unique Identifier: NCT03078166.