Quality of Life Measures in Aortic Stenosis Research: A Narrative Review

Derk Frank; Simon Kennon; Nikolaos Bonaros; Mauro Romano; Carlo Di Mario; Dirk-Jan van Ginkel; Wilbert Bor; Markus Kasel; Ole De Backer; Violetta Hachaturyan; Claudia M Lüske; Jana Kurucova; Peter Bramlage; Rima Styra

doi:10.1159/000531465

Quality of Life Measures in Aortic Stenosis Research: A Narrative Review

Cardiology. 2023;148(6):556-570. doi: 10.1159/000531465. Epub 2023 Jul 13.

Authors

Derk Frank¹, Simon Kennon², Nikolaos Bonaros³, Mauro Romano⁴, Carlo Di Mario⁵, Dirk-Jan van Ginkel⁶, Wilbert Bor⁶, Markus Kasel⁷, Ole De Backer⁸, Violetta Hachaturyan⁹, Claudia M Lüske⁹, Jana Kurucova¹⁰, Peter Bramlage⁹, Rima Styra¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine III (Cardiology, Angiology and Critical Care), UKSH University Clinical Center Schleswig-Holstein and DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner site Hamburg/Kiel/Lübeck, Kiel, Germany.
² Department of Cardiology, Barts Heart Centre, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK.
³ Department of Cardiac Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴ Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Interventional Cardiology, Hôpital Privé Jacques Cartier, Massy, France.
⁵ Structural Interventional Cardiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
⁶ Department of Cardiology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Cardiology, University Heart Center, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Interventional Cardiology, The Heart Center, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Institute for Pharmacology and Preventive Medicine, Cloppenburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Edwards Lifesciences, Prague, Czechia.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Elderly patients with aortic stenosis (AS) not only have a reduced life expectancy but also a reduced quality of life (QoL). The benefits of an AS intervention may be considered a balance between a good QoL and a reasonably extended life. However, the different questionnaires being used to determine the QoL were generally not developed for the specific situation of patients with AS and come with strengths and considerable weaknesses. The objective of this article was to provide an overview of the available QoL instruments in AS research, describe their strengths and weaknesses, and provide our assessment of the utility of the available scoring instruments for QoL measurements in AS.

Summary: We identified and reviewed the following instruments that are used in AS research: Short Form Health Survey (SF-36/SF-12), EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D), the Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale (IIRS), the HeartQoL, the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHF), the MacNew Questionnaire, and the Toronto Aortic Stenosis Quality of Life Questionnaire (TASQ).

Key messages: There is no standardized assessment of QoL in patients with AS. Many different questionnaires are being used, but they are rarely specific for AS. There is a need for AS-specific research into the QoL of patients as life prolongation may compete for an improved QoL in this elderly patient group.

Keywords: Aortic stenosis; Quality of life; Quality of life measures; Review.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Aged
Aortic Valve Stenosis*
Heart Failure*
Humans
Quality of Life
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

Research grant was provided by Edwards Lifesciences (Nyon, Switzerland) to the Sponsor Institute for Pharmacology and Preventive Medicine (IPPMed, Cloppenburg, Germany).