Abstract
Chagas disease represents an important cause of heart failure (HF) and affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The study aimed to evaluate and compare the HRQoL of patients with chagasic HF and matched non-Chagas controls to identify factors associated with HRQoL. A cross-sectional study with pair-matched controls was conducted in Colombia. From October 2018 to December 2019, a total of 84 HF patients were screened for study subjects. Four were excluded, resulting in 80 patients for the analysis, among whom 40 patients with Chagas were enrolled as cases and 40 gender- and age-matched non-Chagas patients as controls. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLWHFQ) were used to measure HRQoL. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from each subject. Health-related quality of life scores were significantly worse among the Chagas group than among the non-Chagas group in the KCCQ domains of physical functioning and symptoms and in the MLWHFQ scale. In the multivariate analysis, the variables associated with lower HRQoL scores were living alone, obesity, having less than 12 years of education, and an increase in left ventricular diameters in the systole and diastole. Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic HF is impaired across all domains. Chagas patients showed worse HRQoL scores than non-Chagas patients. Six variables, some potentially modifiable, were independently associated with worse HRQoL.