Assessment of dyspnea early in acute heart failure: patient characteristics and response differences between likert and visual analog scales.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dyspnea is the most common symptom in acute heart failure (AHF), yet how to best measure it has not been well defined. Prior studies demonstrate differences in dyspnea improvement across various measurement scales, yet these studies typically enroll patients well after the emergency department (ED) phase of management.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine predictors of early dyspnea improvement for three different, commonly used dyspnea scales (i.e., five-point absolute Likert scale, 10-cm visual analog scale [VAS], or seven-point relative Likert scale).

Methods

This was a post hoc analysis of URGENT Dyspnea, an observational study of 776 patients in 17 countries enrolled within 1 hour of first physician encounter. Inclusion criteria were broad

SUBMITTER: Pang PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4105984 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature