A recent study, conducted at the Hunter-New England pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) clinic in Newcastle, Australia, investigated the assessment of patient-reported outcome measures (PROs) and quality of life (QOL) in patients in WHO Group 1, pulmonary arterial hypertension. It aimed to determine if QOL scores, measured using both disease-specific (PAH-SYMPACT©) and general (EQ-5D-5L™) tools, could provide prognostic information beyond traditional risk markers.
The authors note that, despite the importance of QOL, its formal measurement is not included in the risk assessment methodology proposed by the latest European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) pulmonary hypertension guidelines. They attribute this partly to the limitations of the current tools, including the lack of standardization across varied populations and the challenges of capturing the full spectrum of symptoms and impact of the condition.
The findings of the study suggest that the use of PROs can refine existing risk-assessment tools by enhancing their predictive value and allowing risk stratification to occur even more accurately.
Despite the challenges involved in using and interpreting these instruments, the authors say there should be more widespread and uniform use of PROs as part of standard pulmonary arterial hypertension assessment and management.
Citation
Assessing quality of life in pulmonary arterial hypertension: An independent prognostic marker, Glenn Edward Malcolm Reeves, Julie Shepherd, Nicholas John Collins, Scott Twaddell, Rajinder Harjit Singh, Pulmonary Circulation, First published: 02 June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1002/pul2.12380