Objectives: To create a valid, sensitive, disease-specific health status measure for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).
Background: Quantifying health status is becoming increasingly important for CHF. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is a new, self-administered, 23-item questionnaire that quantifies physical limitations, symptoms, self-efficacy, social interference and quality of life.
Methods: To establish the performance characteristics of the KCCQ, two distinct patient cohorts were recruited: 70 stable and 59 decompensated CHF patients with ejection fractions of
Conclusions: The KCCQis a valid, reliable and responsive health status measure for patients with CHF and may serve as a clinically meaningful outcome in cardiovascular research, patient management and quality assessment.