Gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität bei Patienten mit Vorhofflimmern in der kardiologischen Versorgung: MOVE-Studie

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In daily clinicalpractise, there is a lack of representative and robust data on thehealth-related quality of life (QoL) of patients with atrial fibrillation(AF). PARTICIPANTS AND METHOD: In the non-interventionalMOVE study, 638 physicians (predominantly cardiologists) in ambulatorycare (78.0 % of all centres) or hospital-based(12.7 %), documented prospectively and retrospectivelydata from 3354 consecutive patients with ECG-confirmed AF in theprevious 12 months (mean age 68.9 ± 10.1years; 62.4 % males, mean CHADS 2 score1.9 ± 1.3). 1136 (33.9 %)had paroxysmal, 899 (26.8 %) persistent and 1295(38.6 %) permanent AF. RESULTS: Symptoms within the previous4 weeks were present in 89.9 % of the cases and43.1 % of the patients reported palpitations inthe range from sometimes to very frequently. As treatment aim, physiciansreported rate control in 64 %, rhythm controlin 8 %, and both in 19 % ofthe cases (not stated: 8 %). In the Universityof Toronto Atrial Fibrillation Severity Scale (AFSS), emergencyroom attendance or hospitalizations for AF or associated diseasesin the previous 12 months were reported in 24.2 % or30.8 %, respectively. Rhythm control was associatedwith higher emergency room admittance or hospitalization rates,respectively. The EQ-5D index (0.94 points) was near the maximumof 1; thus this index does not appear to reflect QoL of AF patientsadequately. Analyses of the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of the EuroQol(EQ-5D), and the assessment scale or specific questions of AFSS,respectively, indicated an intermediate QoL or disease burden, respectively.No or only small differences were documented between subgroups withdifferent AF types, or subgroups treated according to differentaims. CONCLUSION: The great majority of AFpatients had one or more recent AF symptoms, and their overall QoLwas limited. In daily practise, rate control is not inferior torhythm control in AF patients with respect to QoL.