Heart Failure

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Heart Failure

NIH - Heart Failure: Summary

"Heart failure is a condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood throughout the body. ... The most common symptoms of heart failure are shortness of breath, feeling tired, and swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, and sometimes the abdomen."

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Heart failure

"The most common causes of heart failure are hypertension (high blood pressure) and coronary artery disease (for example, you have had a heart attack). Other structural or functional causes of heart failure include the following: • Valvular heart disease • Congenital heart disease • Dilated cardiomyopathy • Lung disease • Heart tumor Heart failure becomes more common with advancing age. You are also at increased risk for developing heart failure if you are overweight, have diabetes, smoke cigarettes, abuse alcohol, or use cocaine."

Highlighted Articles

Aerobic exercise reverses signs of heart failure "In an editorial, Dr. Stanley A. Rubin, at the UCLA School of Medicine, urges caution before starting heart failure patients on an exercise training program. Rubin outlines the considerations to be taken into account when starting a patient on an exercise training program -- including pre-training evaluation, as well as the type, degree, and venue of exercise training."

Superior Cardiovascular Effect of Aerobic Interval Training Versus Moderate Continuous Training in Heart Failure Patients. A Randomized Study. (Circulation. 2007) "CONCLUSIONS: Exercise intensity was an important factor for reversing LV remodeling and improving aerobic capacity, endothelial function, and quality of life in patients with postinfarction heart failure. These findings may have important implications for exercise training in rehabilitation programs and future studies."

Antithrombotic therapy for congestive heart failure. (Int J Clin Pract. 2006)

"Aspirin may be detrimental for heart failure due to a possible interaction with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, leading to increased hospitalisations from decompensated heart failure."

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Heart Failure

General Information

NEWS:

Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

Congestive Heart Failure Patients Often Have Cognitive Impairment "Subjects with CHF exhibited a pattern of general cognitive impairment. The deficits were primarily seen in the domains of executive function, memory, language, mental speed, and attention. Overall, 25% of CHF patients were classified as cognitively impaired, compared to 15% of those in the cardiac control group and 4% in the healthy control group."

Heart Failure Performance Measures Not Associated With Improved Clinical Outcomes "Current heart-failure performance measures, with the exception of the prescription of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) at discharge, have little relation to patient mortality or combined mortality/rehospitalization in the first 60 to 90 days after discharge, according to the results of a study published in the January 3 issue of JAMA. The prescription of beta-blockers at discharge, however, while not one of the measures of performance, was associated with the most significant improvement in heart-failure outcomes."

U.S. Heart Failure Program Is Saving Lives

ARTICLES:

JAMA Patient Page: Heart Failure

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Acute decompensated heart failure. (CMAJ 2007)

Association of Diurnal Blood Pressure Pattern With Risk of Hospitalization or Death in Men With Heart Failure (Journal of Cardiac Failure 2007) "In addition to other traditional predictors, BP dipping status may be an important prognostic factor in HF."

Atrial Fibrillation and Congestive Heart Failure: A Two-way Street. (Curr Heart Fail Rep. 2007)

Cholesterol - A marker of nutritional status in mild to moderate heart failure. (Int J Cardiol. 2007)

Chronic heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: One problem, one solution? (Int J Cardiol. 2007)

Cognitive impairment in heart failure: A systematic review of the literature (European Journal of Heart Failure 2007)

[Congestive heart failure--etiology and diagnostic procedures] (Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2007) "Hypertension and coronary artery disease account for 75-80% of known cases of congestive heart failure. The patient's history and risk factors must be investigated. Laboratory tests emphasising organ functions are important, and these should include measurement of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). Electrocardiograms and chest X-rays should be taken as well."

Depressive Symptoms Are Related to Decreased Low-Frequency Heart Rate Variability in Older Adults with Decompensated Heart Failure. (Neuropsychobiology. 2007)

Effect of chronic changes in heart rate on congestive heart failure. (J Card Fail. 2007)

Glucose Levels Predict Hospitalization for Congestive Heart Failure in Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk. (Circulation. 2007) "CONCLUSIONS: Fasting plasma glucose is an independent predictor of hospitalization for CHF in high-risk subjects. These data provide theoretical support for potential direct beneficial effects of glucose lowering in reducing the risk of CHF and suggests the need for specific studies targeted at this issue."

High impact of depression in heart failure: Early diagnosis and treatment options. (Int J Cardiol. 2007)

Incidence and Predictors of Sudden Cardiac Death in Patients with Diastolic Heart Failure. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2007)

Incidence, clinical characteristics and outcome of congestive heart failure as the initial presentation in patients with primary hyperthyroidism (Heart 2007) "Conclusion: CHF was the initial clinical presentation in approximately 6% of patients with hyperthyroidism, and half of them had left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Symptoms of CHF subsided and LVEF improved after treatment for hyperthyroidism. Nonetheless, one-third of these patients developed persistent dilated cardiomyopathy."

Influence of left bundle branch block on long-term mortality in a population with heart failure. (Eur Heart J. 2007)

Long-term Survival After Heart Failure (Arch Intern Med. 2007) "Conclusions The results of our communitywide study demonstrate the poor long-term prognosis of patients surviving hospitalization for decompensated HF. Despite advances in the therapeutic management of these patients, their long-term survival remains guarded. Efforts are needed to improve the long-term survival of patients with this clinical syndrome."

Long-term survival in patients older than 80 years hospitalised for heart failure. A 5-year prospective study. (Eur J Heart Fail. 2007) “CONCLUSION: Long-term prognosis in HF patients older than 80 years is poor, with a dramatic excess mortality compared to the elderly general population. Life-saving drugs are largely underused in elderly HF patients.”

Prevalence and determinants of cognitive impairment in chronic heart failure patients. (Congest Heart Fail. 2007) "Cognitive impairment is frequent in patients hospitalized for CHF decompensation whether or not they have a past history of CVA or TIA. The severity of cognitive impairment parallels that of CHF."

Prevalence and prognostic impact of bundle branch block in patients with heart failure: Evidence from the CHARM programme. (Eur J Heart Fail. 2007) "CONCLUSION: The simple clinical finding of BBB is a powerful independent predictor of worse clinical outcomes in patients with HF and reduced LVEF. It is less frequent, with a more modest predictive effect, in patients with preserved systolic function."

Prognostic value of anemia in predicting sudden death of patients with diastolic heart failure. (Int J Cardiol. 2007) "Anemia may be an important therapeutic target to reduce sudden death in DHF patients."

Recall of lifestyle advice in patients recently hospitalised with heart failure: A EuroHeart Failure Survey analysis. (Eur J Heart Fail. 2007)

Relationship between depressive symptoms and long-term mortality in patients with heart failure (American Heart Journal 2007) "Self-rated depression by BDI is independently linked with higher long-term mortality in patients with HF. Significant dose effect of depressive symptoms on higher mortality is noted."

Repeated hospitalizations predict mortality in the community population with heart failure. (Am Heart J. 2007)

Risk of Thromboembolism in Heart Failure. An Analysis From the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT). (Circulation. 2007)

Systolic and diastolic heart failure: differences and similarities. (J Card Fail. 2007) "METHODS AND RESULTS: The clinically overt DHF and SHF appear to be 2 separate syndromes with distinctive morphologic and functional changes although signs, symptoms, and prognosis are very similar. In DHF, the left ventricle is not dilated and the ejection fraction is preserved. In contrast in SHF, it is dilated and the ejection fraction is reduced. The neurohormonal abnormalities in DHF and SHF appear to be similar. The stimuli and the signals that ultimately produce these 2 different phenotypes of chronic heart failure remain, presently, largely unknown."

The incidence of ischemic stroke in chronic heart failure: a meta-analysis. (J Card Fail. 2007) " … this meta-analysis shows that stroke prevention in HF represents an opportunity to prevent morbidity and save many lives in this highly fatal disease."

The pathophysiology of acute heart failure--is it all about fluid accumulation? (Am Heart J. 2008)

Why does chronic heart failure cause breathlessness and fatigue? (Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2007)

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