Quality of life when living with heart failure

Heart failure is a major public health problem that Failure Questionnaire. Although not the focus of this has reached epidemic proportions in the United States [1]. An estimated 5 million Americans, 1.9% of the population, have heart failure. Newly diagnosed cases occur at a rate of 500,000/year, and half of those persons die within 5 years of diagnosis [2]. The cost of caring for patients with heart failure is significant. The total annual estimated direct and indirect costs of heart failure are approximately $21 billion, including costs incurred from hospitalization, nursing homes, health care professionals, medications, lost productivity, morbidity, and mortality [2]. Heart failure heavily impacts the heath care system resources and has an equally heavy impact on the quality of life (QOL) of patients and their families. If one of the goals of health care is to improve QOL, it is essential to understand how heart failure affects QOL.