Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important measure in supporting heart health. Assessing QOL on a validated and reliable instrument provides valuable information for program quality improvement and patient care.[#national-heart-foundation-of-australia.-multidisciplinary-care...-2010]

Generic, non-cardiac specific, tools measure general aspects of health and are particularly useful in assessing the impairment of physical and emotional functioning; examples include the Short Form (SF)-36, Duke Health Profile and the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL).

Cardiac-specific QOL tools are designed to identify physical and emotional symptoms associated with cardiac conditions. Some commonly used cardiac specific tools are listed below. All have a licensing fee:

• MacNew, which has 27 items in 3 domains (physical, emotional and social), is validated in patients with ischaemic heart disease (angina, MI) and HF [#valenti-l-lim-l-heller-rf-et-al.-1996]
• HeartQoL, which has 14 items in 2 domains (physical and emotional), is validated in patients with ischaemic heart disease (angina, MI) and HF [#de-smedt-d-clays-e-hoefer-s-oldridge-n-kotseva-k-maggioni-ap-janssen-b-de-b]
• Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) 21 items in 3 domains and is validated for those with heart failure[#rector-ts-kubo-sh-cohn-jn.-1987,#asadi-lari-m-rao-a-gray-d.-2005]
• Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) has 23 items [#green-cp-porter-cb-bresnahan-dr-et-al.-2000]. A short version (KCCQ-12) with 12 items is also available.