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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 1.

Published in final edited form as: Circ Heart Fail. 2013 Apr 26;6(4):669–675. doi: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.112.000291

Panel A – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Self-Reported Physical Functioning

Panel B – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Self-Rated General Health

Panel C – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Functional Exercise Capacity

Physical health status has been shown to predict death in heart failure (HF) patients; however, community data are lacking. The goal of our study was to assess, within community HF patients (including incident and prevalent HF, inpatients and outpatients, as well as those with both preserved and reduced ejection fraction), the association of various measures of physical health with all-cause mortality. Three measures of physical health, including two self-rated measures based on the SF-12 and an objective measure based on a six minute walk test, independently predicted mortality. HF patients who scored ≤25 on the SF-12 physical component exhibited a 1.6-fold increased risk of death compared to those with scores >25. Patients who responded poor to the first question of the SF-12, ‘In general would you say your health is,’ had a 2.7-fold higher risk of death compared to those who answered good, very good, or excellent. Those who walked ≤300 meters during a six minute walk exhibited a 1.8-fold increased risk of mortality compared to those who walked >300 meters. In addition, all three physical health status measures equally discriminated between who would die and who would survive, and the use of two measures together did not improve the predictive ability beyond a single measure. Therefore, any of these measures may be useful in the management of HF. However, the administration of a single question asking a patient to rate their general health is the least burdensome, yet provides valuable information about the patient's current state of physical health.

Panel A – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Self-Reported Physical Functioning

Panel B – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Self-Rated General Health

Panel C – Kaplan-Meier Survival by Functional Exercise Capacity

Physical health status has been shown to predict death in heart failure (HF) patients; however, community data are lacking. The goal of our study was to assess, within community HF patients (including incident and prevalent HF, inpatients and outpatients, as well as those with both preserved and reduced ejection fraction), the association of various measures of physical health with all-cause mortality. Three measures of physical health, including two self-rated measures based on the SF-12 and an objective measure based on a six minute walk test, independently predicted mortality. HF patients who scored ≤25 on the SF-12 physical component exhibited a 1.6-fold increased risk of death compared to those with scores >25. Patients who responded poor to the first question of the SF-12, ‘In general would you say your health is,’ had a 2.7-fold higher risk of death compared to those who answered good, very good, or excellent. Those who walked ≤300 meters during a six minute walk exhibited a 1.8-fold increased risk of mortality compared to those who walked >300 meters. In addition, all three physical health status measures equally discriminated between who would die and who would survive, and the use of two measures together did not improve the predictive ability beyond a single measure. Therefore, any of these measures may be useful in the management of HF. However, the administration of a single question asking a patient to rate their general health is the least burdensome, yet provides valuable information about the patient's current state of physical health.