Sección de Arritmias, Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, España.
Rev Esp Cardiol. 2010 Dec;63(12):1402-9. doi: 10.1016/s1885-5857(10)70274-7.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias. It is classified according to its presentation as either paroxysmal, persistent or permanent. The presence of this arrhythmia has been associated with a decrease in patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The Atrial Fibrillation-Quality of Life (AF-QoL) questionnaire, which is specifically for use in patients with AF, has recently been developed and validated. The aim of this study was to use this questionnaire to investigate differences in HRQoL associated with different types of AF.
This prospective observational multicenter study was performed in a regular clinical context in Spain. The AF-QoL questionnaire was administered to study patients, who were diagnosed as having one of the three types of AF.
The study involved 341 patients with AF, 43% of whom had persistent AF, while 37% had paroxysmal AF, and 20% had permanent AF. Although the type of AF had no significant effect on the overall AF-QoL score, patients with permanent AF had the highest scores on the psychological dimension (i.e. better HRQoL). In addition, an increased frequency of symptoms, more emergency department visits, and poorer functioning were also associated with significant differences in HRQoL in AF patients.
Use of the AF-QoL questionnaire showed that the HRQoL of AF patients was influenced by the clinical characteristics of the disease but not, except on the psychological dimension, by the type of AF.
心房颤动（AF）是最常见的心律失常之一。根据其表现，可分为阵发性、持续性或永久性。这种心律失常的存在与患者的健康相关生活质量（HRQoL）下降有关。最近开发并验证了一种专门用于 AF 患者的心房颤动生活质量（AF-QoL）问卷。本研究旨在使用该问卷研究与不同类型 AF 相关的 HRQoL 差异。
这是一项在西班牙常规临床环境中进行的前瞻性观察性多中心研究。向研究患者发放 AF-QoL 问卷，这些患者被诊断为患有三种类型的 AF 之一。
该研究共纳入 341 例 AF 患者，其中 43%为持续性 AF，37%为阵发性 AF，20%为永久性 AF。尽管 AF 的类型对整体 AF-QoL 评分没有显著影响，但永久性 AF 患者在心理维度上的得分最高（即 HRQoL 更好）。此外，症状发作频率增加、更多急诊就诊和功能较差也与 AF 患者的 HRQoL 存在显著差异相关。
使用 AF-QoL 问卷表明，AF 患者的 HRQoL 受到疾病临床特征的影响，但不受 AF 类型的影响（除心理维度外）。
