Social status, health-related quality of life, and event-free survival in patients with heart failure

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Abstract
Social status may impact health-related quality of life (HRQOL), hospitalization, and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF). To determine if social status was associated with HRQOL and event-free survival. Higher social status (quality of perceived support, emotional support, marital status, and economic status) is related to better HRQOL and event-free survival after controlling covariates (New York Heart Association [NYHA] functional class, comorbidity status, and age). Patients (N = 147, 61 ± 11 years old, 70% male, 62% NYHA class III/IV) provided data on HRQOL (measured by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire) and social status. Event-free survival data were collected by medical record reviews and patient or family interviews. Hierarchical regression analysis and survival analysis were used to test the hypothesis. Better quality of perceived support, better economic status, better functional status, older age, and less comorbidity were related to better HRQOL (R2 = .365, p = <.001). Only economic status predicted event-free survival. Attention should be given to those who have lower social support to improve HRQOL and those who have lower economic status to improve event-free survival.

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