Reliability refers to the ability of a measure to produce consistent results when the measured phenomenon is unchanged. Responsiveness refers to the ability of a measure to track accurately a phenomenon when it does change. Here’s how the KCCQ stacks up.

Reliability refers to the ability of a measure to produce consistent results when the measured phenomenon is unchanged. Responsiveness refers to the ability of a measure to track accurately a phenomenon when it does change. Here’s how the KCCQ stacks up.

Reliability/Reproducibility

The test-retest reproducibility of the KCCQ was originally established in an outpatient cohort of 39 stable patients (mean age = 64 years, 69% male, mean NHYA = 2.0 ±0.59). Baseline and 3-month KCCQ overall summary scores were (66.2 vs. 64.1, mean change = -2.1, p=0.36). The intraclass correlation coefficient in a separate cohort of 320 patients from 13 centers in whom physicians re-evaluated patients 6±2 weeks apart and determined them to be stable was 0.88.

Responsiveness/Sensitivity to change

In a cohort of 39 patients (mean age =68, 62% male, mean NYHA=3.3±.46) admitted to the hospital for decompensated heart failure and re-evaluated 3 months later as outpatients (when their condition had significantly improved), the baseline and 3-month KCCQ overall summary scores were 31.8 and 56.1 (mean change = 24.3, p<0.001). In this study the responsiveness statistic (mean change/standard deviation of change in stable patients) was >2.4 times higher than the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire or the SF-12, suggesting greater sensitivity to clinical change than these other measures.

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