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Measuring shortness of breath in heart failure (SOB‐HF): development and validation of a new dyspnoea assessment tool
Author(s) -
Ekman Inger,
Granger Bradi,
Swedberg Karl,
Stenlund Hans,
Boman Kurt
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of heart failure
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.149
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1879-0844
pISSN - 1388-9842
DOI - 10.1093/eurjhf/hfr062
Subject(s) - medicine , heart failure , furosemide , visual analogue scale , emergency department , cardiology , breathing , physical therapy , emergency medicine , anesthesia , psychiatry
Aim To validate a previously developed instrument for measurement of breathlessness in patients with acute heart failure (HF). Methods and results We tested descriptors of breathlessness among 190 patients seeking care at the emergency department (ED) for acute shortness of breath. Out of 115 patients with confirmed HF, 107 (94%) had dyspnoea as their main symptom. There were no significant differences between those patients with HF and those who were not diagnosed as heart failure (NHF) ( n = 75) in the descriptors of breathlessness, although patients with HF scored significantly ( P = 0.03) higher on a visual analogue scale (VAS). In addition, they had significantly ( P = 0.03) higher breathing frequency than NHF patients and they were significantly ( P < 0.001) more likely to be treated with >40 mg furosemide. Conclusion Assessment of acute dyspnoea using a VAS is useful in distinguishing HF from NHF, and may be a more valid approach as compared with using descriptors of intensity of breathlessness in the acute setting.