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Routine Screening for Depression and Quality of Life in Outpatients With Congestive Heart Failure

Received January 31, 2006; revised April 7, 2006; accepted April 19, 2006. From the Dept. of Psychosomatic and General Clinical Medicine: Dept. of Cardiology; Medical University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Nicole Holzapfel, M.A., Dept. of Psychosomatic and General Clinical Medicine, Medical University, Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120 Heidelberg On behalf of the German Heart Failure Network. e-mail: Nicole_Holzapfel{at}med.uni-heidelberg.de
*Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

The influence of depression and perceived quality of life (QoL) on symptom perception and prognosis in congestive heart failure is well known. The authors therefore introduced routine questionnaire screening for these parameters in patients attending their outpatient heart failure clinic (N=320). The authors found QoL to be significantly reduced, and almost every third patient screened positive for a depressive disorder. These patients got a clearly-defined treatment offer. The present study demonstrates that screening for depression and QoL is feasible without being too complex or time-consuming and easily implementable in an interdisciplinary outpatient setting.

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