Top Things to Know: Cardiovascular Health: The Importance of Measuring Patient-Reported Health Status
Published: May 06, 2013
- The goal of this scientific statement is to support the inclusion of patient-reported health status as a measure of cardiovascular health.
- Improving cardiovascular health is a central goal of cardiovascular care and a specific aim of the American Heart Association’s strategic goals; however, measures of cardiovascular health beyond mortality and morbidity outcomes have not been well specified.
- Patient-reported health status, which includes symptom burden, functional status, and health-related quality of life (HRQL), is an important measure of health.
- Validated patient health status surveys, including disease-specific instruments for patients with cardiovascular disease, allow for the quantification of this critical, patient-centered outcome.
- Cardiovascular patient health status surveys have been used successfully in clinical trials and other research studies to quantify treatment benefits with regard to symptoms, functional status, and HRQL; however, they remain underutilized.
- In addition to cardiovascular disease–specific factors contributing to worse patient health status (e.g., amount of angina in coronary artery disease), other key cofactors must be recognized (e.g., comorbid depression). There are also special considerations in the measurement of health status in cohorts such as the elderly.
- Patient-reported health status is an independent predictor of subsequent mortality, cardiovascular events, hospitalization, and costs of care. This has potential implications for risk adjustment and targeting of healthcare resources.
- Patient health status data have the potential to inform clinical decision making. In particular, such information can be important for shared decision making.
- Cardiovascular patient health status assessments can facilitate disease surveillance and quantify populations’ health for entities such as accountable care organizations but have not yet been incorporated into population health/disease surveillance efforts. The integration of health status into these activities may enhance the patient-centeredness of care and better characterize the impact of healthcare delivery on patient health.
- Additional research is needed to better understand the determinants of patient health status, the effects of interventions on cardiovascular health, and the most effective strategies to incorporate cardiovascular patient health status measurement in clinical practice and disease surveillance.
Citation
Rumsfeld JS, et al; on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research, Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease, and Stroke Council. Cardiovascular health: the importance of measuring patient-reported health status: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2013: published online before print May 6, 2013, 10.1161/CIR.0b013e3182949a2e.