Cardiology Research and Practice and marital status were also collected, as well as health supports including access to a family physician, cardiologist/ internist, details about who manages the HF, and use of HF resources. 3.4. Clinical Characteristics. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of <40% was our primary measure of disease severity. This value was obtained from echocardiogram history during a chart review. As well, we determined to what extent participants met the Framingham Criteria for HF (major or minor). Other diseases that potentially inﬂuenced par- ticipants’ functionality were identiﬁed using the Functional Comorbidity Index (FCI), a validated, self-reported tool used to identify 17 common comorbid conditions used to predict one’s level of physical functional capacity [22, 23]. This tool has been validated on a cross-sectional database of 9,423 Canadian adults, using the SF-36 physical function subscale as the outcome measure [24]. 4. Analysis Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 17.0 software. All baseline and 12-month covariate and social support scales were described using standard descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation; frequencies and percentages). When 15% of any questionnaire data were not obtained, the survey data for that particular participant were considered missing. We determined the gender diﬀerences in personal and clinical variables and social support using the Chi-squared test for categorical variables and the t-test for normally distributed continuous variable scores. Logistic regression models were estimated for each subscale and overall social support score using a two-level functional outcome for each of the PL and PCS change scores: (1) maintained functional status or improved by the minimal clinically important diﬀerence and (2) died, lost to followup due to worsening illness or declined by the minimal clinically important diﬀerence. These models controlled for age and gender and were determined in the full sample and within each gender. The eﬀect modiﬁcation of gender on social support was determined through inclusion of an interaction term in each model. The large number of participants lost to followup was addressed in two ways. First, we compared the baseline char- acteristics of those participants with complete 12-month data to those participants with incomplete data at 12 months, to determine if the groups were diﬀerent. Secondly, we conducted a sensitivity analyses in which we compared the logistic regression model in 2 cohorts: (1) a cohort that did not include those participants that were lost to followup and (2) a cohort that included the loss to followup in the declined/died/too ill category. It should be noted that for some individuals we were able to categorize participants within the functional decline category, without questionnaire data, as they reported to the study coordinator their intent to withdraw due to worsening illness and decline. This sensitivity analysis allowed us to test the assumption that those participants lost to followup could be included in the declined/died/too ill adverse outcome group. Table 1: Comparison of baseline characteristics of participants who completed 12-month questionnaires to those who were lost to followup or died. n = 224 n = 211 Completers Noncompleters Age Mean (SD) Gender Female Male Marital status Single/widowed/divorced Married/common-law Annual combined income ≤ $40,000 > $40,000 LV ejection fraction 77.5 (6.6) n (%) 81 (36.2) 143 (63.3) 89 (39.7) 135 (60.3) 131 (64,5) 72 (35.5) ≤40% 96 (51.6) >40% 90 (48.4) Comorbid conditions 0–2 comorbidities 113 (57.1) >2 comorbidities 85 (42.9) Social support subscale scores Mean (SD) Emotional/information 74.1 (26.7) Tangible 78.2 (26.9) Aﬀectionate 81.7 (28.1) Positive social interaction 75.0 (30.1) Overall 76.0 (24.7) Functional scores KCCQ PL Score 52.4 (25.3) SF-12-PCS 30.3 (8.3) 78.7 (7.3) n (%) 83 (39.3) 128 (60.7) 91 (43.1) 120 (56.9) 124 (73.4) 45 (26.6) 84 (47.2) 94 (52.8) 98 (50.5) 96 (49.5) Mean (SD) 70.2 (27.7) 75.5 (31.7) 79.4 (30.2) 67.1 (33.5) 71.7 (27.1) 46.6 (26.4) 29.7 (8.3) 3 P .087 .495 .472 .067 .399 .193 .130 .334 .417 .012 .082 .026 .455 5. Results Four hundred and thirty-ﬁve participants provided baseline information; 224 (52%) completed all or parts of the questionnaires at 12 months. Of the 435 who started, many eligible and consenting participants did not complete the study due to worsened illness (n = 30), death (n = 54), admission to assisted living facilities (n = 4), or other unknown reasons (n = 123). There were few signiﬁcant diﬀerences in baseline characteristics between those who completed the study and those who were lost to followup (Table 1). Participants who completed the study were more likely to report higher KCCQ physical limitation scores than those who did not complete the follow-up questionnaires. Because of these results, we considered the lost-to-followup group as potentially diﬀerent from those who completed, and we therefore included a separate classiﬁcation for this group in relevant analyses. Baseline participant characteristics of the total sample (completers and noncompleters combined) are described in Tables 2(a) and 2(b). The study cohort included 62% males aged 65–99 years. Female participants were more likely to