Differences In The Quality Of Life Between Patients With Left Heart Failure And Right Heart Failure Secondary To Copd

Background: In patients with right heart failure secondary to COPD (RHF+COPD), the quality of life (QOL) is one of the factors that is highly deteriorated. However, scientific literature mainly focuses on patients with left heart failure (LHF). Aim: To investigate the difference in the QOL between with LHF and RHF+COPD patients. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted, 76 LHF patients (G1) and 68 RHF+COPD patients (G2) participated. Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire was used to measure the QOL. Which classifies it as low (43-71 points), medium (72-90 points) and high (91-115 points). Student- t test and Chi-square test was used in SPSS v25. Results: Characteristics by group: G1: 61.30±17.79 years, 51.9% men; G2: 67.34±13.31 years, 58.8% women. Significant differences (p <0.05) were found between groups (G1 vs. G2) in total QOL (97.25±14.93 vs. 85.44±19.60), particularly in the dimensions: physical limitations (25.79 ± 4.54 vs. 71.56 ± 31.83), frequency of symptoms (17.73 ± 3.35 vs. 15.76 ± 4.70), severity of symptoms (13.27 ± 2.36 vs. 12.00 ± 3.00), symptoms change over time (4.69 ± 1.55 vs. 3.63 ± 1.68), self-efficacy (12.21 ± 1.88 vs 10.18 ± 2.66) and QOL (15.56 ± 3.18 vs. 13.22 ± 4.15). According to the QOL classification, significant differences were found (χ² = 16.49, p = 0.00) between groups (G1 vs G2) in all classifications: low QOL (6.5% vs. 25.0%), medium QOL (19.5% vs 34.4%) and high QOL (74.0% vs 42.6%). Conclusions: RHF+COPD patients showed a greater deterioration in their quality of life, both physically and mentally. More research and interdisciplinary interventions according to their needs are necessary.