RESUMO
AIM: Primary: To report a research protocol to analyse the relationship between the degree of heart failure and the health-related quality of life of patients and their family caregivers. Secondary: To identify the characteristics of heart failure patients and their caregivers and the association between these characteristics and hospital admissions. Moreover, to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the relationship between patients' and that of their family caregivers. BACKGROUND: As heart failure progresses, it reduces the patient's quality of life and progressive functional deterioration requires hospital admission and the provision of healthcare resources. The availability of a family caregiver is a key element in addressing and managing this healthcare problem and some research results have associated this factor with the prognosis for heart failure. DESIGN: Multicentre cohort nested case-control study. METHODS: Exploratory analysis: Descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency and dispersion or percentages. Bivariate analysis: Using Student's t-test and chi-square test, anova and non-parametric tests. Survival analysis: Kaplan-Meier curves. Multivariate analysis: Cox's proportional hazards model. All calculations performed with an alpha level of 0·05. DISCUSSION: Lack of family support for patients with HF or greater duration of care is associated with more hospitalizations and increased depression among caregivers. Further longitudinal studies with a large population sample are required.