Symptom Monitoring

Symptoms recorded at 6 and 12 months post-diagnosis were generally more strongly associated with outcomes than symptoms recorded near the diagnosis date. At 12 months, all recorded symptoms were statistically significantly associated with all-cause hospitalisation. Under-recording of symptoms in primary care would bias associations toward the null, meaning observed associations likely underestimate true relationships. Before diagnosis, the most frequently recorded symptoms were shortness of breath, depression, oedema and fatigue. Shortness of breath showed a protective association with mortality at diagnosis but shifted to increased mortality risk at 12 months. Symptom monitoring could be a simple, patient-centred and cost-effective way to identify high-risk people with heart failure in the community.