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Background: Heart failure is a leading cardiac morbidity prevalent across the globe. Its incidence is rising in direct proportion to increasing longevity all over the world. Demographic variables are important predictors of quality of life, morbidity, rehospitalization, and mortality due to systolic heart failure. The objective of our study was to assess the association of demographic variables with quality of life of systolic heart failure in patients presenting at Cardiology Out Patient Department, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar. Our study aims to inform policy making as it highlights some important demographics factors associated with quality of life. Methods: A cross sectional method was employed in the study to examine systolic heart failure and its prevalence across various demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, activity, number of children, education, employment status, and BMI at cardiology OPD of a medical teaching institution in Peshawar. Consecutive sampling was used and data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 368 Systolic Heart Failure patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: We had 368 participants, a majority of whom (n=290; 78.8%), were in NYHA class III. The rest (n=78; 21.2%) were in class IV. Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was used to categorize quality of life into 'Good', 'Moderate' and 'Poor'. Most participants were in the 'poor' category with MLHFQ scores >45 (n=193; 52.4%). Those who had scores between 25 -45 were categorized as 'moderate' (n=116; 31.5%), and participants who scored < 24 were categorized as having a 'good' quality of life (n=59; 16%). Reliability of tools was checked by Cronbach alpha which was 0.86 Conclusion: It was concluded that demographic variables have a significant effect on the overall morbidity of heart failure patients and heart failure related quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Population-based secular trends in survival of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) are central to public health research on the burden of the syndrome. Methods: Patients 35-79 years old with a CHF discharge code in 1995 or 2000 were identified in 22 Minneapolis-St. Paul hospitals. A sample of the records was abstracted (50% of 1995 records; 38% of 2000 records). A total of 2,257 patients in 1995 and 1,825 patients in 2000 were determined to have had a CHF-related hospitalization. Each patient was followed for one year to ascertain vital status. Results: The risk profile of the 2000 patient cohort was somewhat worse than that of the 1995 cohort in both sex groups, but the distributions of age and left ventricular ejection fraction were similar. Within one year of admission in 2000, 28% of male patients and 27% of female patients have died, compared to 36% and 27% of their counterparts in 1995, respectively. In various Cox regression models the average year effect (2000 as. 1995) was around 0.75 for men and 0.95 to 1.00 for women. The use of angiotensin converting-enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers was associated with substantially lower hazard of death during the subsequent year. Conclusion: Survival of men who were hospitalized for CHF has improved during the second half of the 1990s. The trend in women was very weak, compatible with little to no change. Documented benefits of angiotensin converting-enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers were evident in these observational data in both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]