Home-based exercise increased exercise capacity safely but did not improve quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure .
It could therefore be used to improve the management of people with chronic heart failure who do not have access to hospital-based exercise
QUESTIONS Does home-based exercise improve exercise capacity and quality of life in people with chronic heart failure ?
Is it safe ?
Comparison of Quality of Life Measures in Heart Failure
Background Although numerous health-related quality -of-life instruments are available to measure patients ’ quality of life , few studies have compared these measures directly to determine how they function in the same group of patients . Objective The purpose of this study was to empirically compare psychometric properties of the Chronic Heart Failure Question naire ( CHQ ) , the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Question naire ( LHFQ ) , and the General Health Survey Short-form-12 ( SF-12 ) . Sample A convenience sample of 211 patients with heart failure completed baseline question naires ; 165 patients completed the entire 26-week study . Methods Patients completed telephone interviews at baseline and at 4 , 8 , and 26 weeks after baseline . To compare mode of administration , a subset of patients ( n = 173 ) completed face-to-face and telephone interviews . Results Patients reported low-to-moderate health-related quality -of-life overall . Reliability of the three instruments was satisfactory . Responsiveness to changing condition , as evaluated by analysis of variance , receiver operating curve characteristics , and the minimal clinical ly important difference method , indicated that the CHQ and LHFQ were more responsive to changing conditions than the SF-12 . No major differences were noted between the scores of the face-to-face interviews and the baseline telephone interviews . The LHFQ and SF-12 were easier and took less time to administer than the CHQ . Conclusions While all three instruments were reliable and valid , the CHQ and LHFQ were more sensitive than the SF-12 in detecting clinical ly important changes over time
Home-based exercise increased exercise capacity safely but did not improve quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure .
It could therefore be used to improve the management of people with chronic heart failure who do not have access to hospital-based exercise
QUESTIONS Does home-based exercise improve exercise capacity and quality of life in people with chronic heart failure ?
Is it safe ?