Effect of Iron deficiency on health-related quality of life in chronic heart failure patients regardless of anaemia status

Abstract

Abstract Background Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) patients have marked functional limitations causing a significant impact on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in these patients. Iron Defeciency is very common in Heart Failure patients & it is suggested that it affects HRQoL in CHF patients regardless of the Anemia status . Objective To evaluate the impact of iron deficiency (ID) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients using Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHFQ) in patients with normal hemoglobin levels . Methods From October 2018 to August 2019 ,100 patients with CHF from out- patient clinics in ASU university hospitals were subjected to history taking , examination , Echocardiography , measurement of Iron status using serum ferritin, Assessment of Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) using Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) . Patients then were divided into 2 equal groups depending on their serum ferritin level & comparison of MLHFQ score between the 2 groups was done . Results The study population was divided into 2 groups: Iron Defecient (ID) (n = 50) & non Iron Defecient (non ID) (n = 50) , 61 patients were males & 39 were females. The MLHFQ scores were 66.9 ± 9.1 among ID patients vs 46.9 ± 7.3 in non ID patients (p value < 0.001) indicating worse HRQoL in ID group . The physical domain (p value < 0.001) was markedly affected than the emotional domain (p value 0.006) of the MLHFQ score . Conclusion In CHF patients , HRQoL was markedly affected among ID patients than non ID patients with physical factors more affected than the emotional factors .