Objective To investigate the symptoms of elderly heart failure patients during the transition from hospital to home,and to analyze the change trends and influencing factors. Methods A total of 219 elderly heart failure patients and their family caregivers were investigated using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale for Heart Failure （MSASHF）, Cardiac Depression Scale（CDS）, Zarit Burden Interview （ZBI） and the Family Caregiver Task Inventory （FCTI） at 1-2 d before discharge, 1 and 3 months after discharge. Results The symptoms of heart failure were aggravated during the transitional period. Compared with the baseline values at 1-2 d before discharge，the total MSASHF score and dimension scores were significantly increased at 1 and 3 months after discharge （P＜0.01). The score of depression was highest at 1 month after discharge，being 90.31±3.27, and then it was decreased（P＜0.01). Regression analysis indicated that heart failure symptoms were affected by the number of medications used per day, cardiac function grading and caregiving ability of the family caregivers; and depression was predicted by age, course of disease and counts of hospitalization (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion Elderly heart failure patients had worse symptoms that were changed dynamically and affected by many factors during the transitional period, so nurses should conduct targeted transitional care to ameliorate their symptom burden.