Inaccurate recognition of own comorbidities is associated with poor prognosis in elderly patients with heart failure

Aims A patient's understanding of his or her own comorbidities is part of the recommended patient education for those with heart failure. The accuracy of patients' understanding of their comorbidities and its prognostic impact have not been reported. Methods and results Patients hospitalized for heart failure ( n  = 1234) aged ≥65 years (mean age: 80.1 ± 7.7 years; 531 females) completed a questionnaire regarding their diagnoses of diabetes, malignancy, stroke, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and coronary artery disease (CAD). The patients were categorized into three groups based on the number of agreements between self‐reported comorbidities and provider‐reported comorbidities: low (1–2, n  = 19); fair (3–4, n  = 376); and high (5–6, n  = 839) agreement groups. The primary outcome was a composite of all‐cause mortality or heart failure rehospitalization at 1 year. The low agreement group had more comorbidities and a higher prevalence of a history of heart failure. The agreement was good for diabetes ( κ  = 0.73), moderate for malignancy ( κ  = 0.56) and stroke ( κ  = 0.50), and poor‐to‐fair for hypertension ( κ  = 0.33), COPD ( κ  = 0.25), and CAD ( κ  = 0.30). The fair and low agreement groups had poorer outcomes than the good agreement group [fair agreement group: hazard ratio (HR): 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–1.56; P  = 0.041; low agreement group: HR: 2.74: 95% CI: 1.40–5.35; P  = 0.003]. Conclusions The ability to recognize their own comorbidities among older patients with heart failure was low. Patients with less accurate recognition of their comorbidities may be at higher risk for a composite of all‐cause mortality or heart failure rehospitalization.