The Rise of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Trends in Heart Failure Clinical Trials.

Heart failure is a serious condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide. To make sure new treatments are safe and effective for use in patients, researchers conduct clinical trials. Traditionally, trials have examined how well treatments worked by studying how it affected outcomes like death and hospitalization rates, but they didn’t always ask the patients how they themselves were feeling. Our research shows that this is changing - more and more clinical trials are asking patients directly about their health status, e.g., symptoms, physical function, and quality of life.