Agreement between heart failure patients and providers in assessing New York Heart Association functional class

Abstract Background Uncertainty persists regarding whether patient assessment of New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification should be preferred over provider assessment among patients with heart failure (HF). Objectives To compare patient against provider NYHA assessments, and both to distance walked on a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) among patients with HF. Methods In this prospective study, we enrolled 101 HF patients who self-assessed NYHA classification. Health care providers who were blinded to patient ratings of NYHA also rated NYHA. Patients completed a 6MWT according to a standardized protocol. We used Spearman coefficients (rs) to evaluate the correlations between variables. Results Patient- and provider-determined NYHA class were poorly correlated, but the relationship was statistically significant (rs = 0.40, p