Cor Vasa 2008, 50(4):171-175 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2008.057

The diagnosis, epidemiology, and prognosis of acute heart failure.

Jindřich Špinar^1,*, Lenka Špinarová², Jiří Vítovec²

¹ Interní kardiologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Brno-Bohunice a Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity

² Interní kardioangiologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny a Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, Brno, Česká republika

Acute heart failure is a disease whose incidence is comparable with that of acute myocardial infarction. It is estimated about 4,000 persons/million/year are hospitalized with that diagnosis in the Czech Republic. The most common causes are chronic heart failure decompensation (about half of patients) and acute coronary syndrome (one in three patients). The mainstay of diagnosis is clinical examination, complemented with x-ray, electrocardiography, echocardiography or another imaging technique, and biochemistry, with determination of natriuretic peptides being the most valuable diagnostic tool. The prognosis of the disease is poor, with in-hospital mortality reported to be 5-15% and one-year mortality 10-30%. Acute and chronic heart failure are referred to as the epidemic of the 21st century; the main factors contributing to their rising incidence are aging of the population and improved care of patients with acute coronary syndromes.
The first European guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute heart failure date back to 2005, followed by the Czech guidelines a year later. These guidelines provide for more exact terminology classifying as they do acute heart failure into six categories while also highlighting the fact a major proportion (up to 50%) of cases of acute heart failure is not associated with systolic left ventricular dysfunction.

Keywords: Acute heart failure; Epidemiology; Diagnosis; Natriuretic peptides; Prognosis

Published: April 1, 2008  Show citation