Objective To investigate the influence and independent predictive value of symptom perception on short-term outcomes （readmission, death, quality of life） in elderly patients with heart failure.Methods A total of 750 elderly patients with heart failure from 2 hospitals in Suzhou were selected by convenience sampling method.Demographic data, clinical data and perception of symptoms during attack were collected.Patients were followed up for 6 months after discharge, and readmissions and deaths within 6 months and quality of life at 6 months were collected.Results Finally, 672 patients were successfully followed up, and the symptom perception score during attack was (43.11±8.69).During the follow-up period, 150 cases (22.3%) of elderly patients with heart failure were readmitted and 6 cases died.At 6 months, quality of life scores of physical health component and mental health component were (32.74±8.35) points and (42.78±5.89) points, respectively. Symptom perception during heart failure acute phase was a risk factor for quality of life of physical health domain at 6 months after discharge, and for readmission at 6 months after discharge (both P＜0.05).The predictive efficacy of symptom perception to predict readmission risk in elderly heart failure patients was significantly higher than that of left ventricular ejection fraction (P＜0.05).The optimal critical value was 46.5 points and the area under the ROC curve was 0.765.Conclusion The perception of symptoms during attack can predict short-term readmission and quality of life in elderly patients with heart failure, especially the prediction of readmission is better than left ventricular ejection fraction.It is suggested that medical staff should guide patients to monitor their symptoms timely and accurately, in an effort to effectively reduce the readmission rate and improve the effect of rehabilitation treatment.