Related topics: heart , patients , heart attack , blood pressure , congestive heart failure
Heart failure
hideHeart failure (HF) is a condition in which a problem with the structure or function of the heart impairs its ability to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body's needs. It should not be confused with cardiac arrest (see Terminology, below).
Common causes of heart failure include myocardial infarction and other forms of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathy. Heart failure can cause a large variety of symptoms such as shortness of breath (typically worse when lying flat, which is called orthopnea), coughing, ankle swelling and reduced exercise capacity. Heart failure is often undiagnosed due to a lack of a universally agreed definition and challenges in definitive diagnosis. Treatment commonly consists of lifestyle measures (such as decreased salt intake) and medications, and sometimes devices or even surgery.
Heart failure is a common, costly, disabling and deadly condition. In developing countries, around 2% of adults suffer from heart failure, but in those over the age of 65, this increases to 6—10%. Mostly due to costs of hospitalization, it is associated with a high health expenditure; costs have been estimated to amount to 2% of the total budget of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, and more than $35 billion in the United States. Heart failure is associated with significantly reduced physical and mental health, resulting in a markedly decreased quality of life. With the exception of heart failure caused by reversible conditions, the condition usually worsens with time. Although some patients survive many years, progressive disease is associated with an overall annual mortality rate of 10%.
For more information about Heart failure, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with heart failure
Grapes may aid a bunch of heart risk factors, animal study finds
Biology /
Oct 29, 2008 |
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Could eating grapes help fight high blood pressure related to a salty diet? And could grapes calm other factors that are also related to heart diseases such as heart failure? A new University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center ...
If Cheaper is Better to Treat Hypertension Then Why Aren't More Patients Prescribed Low Cost Diuretics
Medicine & Health / Medications
Dec 02, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An independent study comparing a low cost diuretic to ACE inhibitors, calcium blockers and alpha blockers for the treatment of high blood pressure and hypertension was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung ...
Two beta blockers found to also protect heart tissue
Sep 15, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A newly discovered chemical pathway that helps protect heart tissue can be stimulated by two of 20 common beta-blockers, drugs that are prescribed to millions of patients who have experienced heart failure.
British girl's heart heals itself after transplant
Jul 14, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (10) |
3
(AP) -- British doctors designed a radical solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart.
Exercise could be the heart's fountain of youth
Jul 23, 2008 |
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Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but endurance exercise seems to make it younger. According to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, older people who did endurance exercise training ...
Promising device snags young inventors coveted spot at IShow
Jun 12, 2009 |
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The IShow is for young inventors what "American Idol" is for young performers, and a pair of local researchers has won a coveted spot in the IShow finale in Palm Desert, Calif., this weekend.
Scientists grow mice heart muscle strip that beats
Oct 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (7) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have grown a piece of heart muscle - and then watched it beat - by using stem cells from a mouse embryo, a big step toward one day repairing damage from heart attacks.
Russian bomb physicist Ginzburg dead at 93
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Nobel Physics prize winner Vitaly Ginzburg, who helped develop the Soviet hydrogen bomb, has died at age 93, the Russian Academy of Sciences said Monday.
New study links vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease and death
Nov 16, 2009 |
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3
While mothers have known that feeding their kids milk builds strong bones, a new study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City suggests that Vitamin D contributes to a strong ...
High-fat diet affects physical and memory abilities of rats after 9 days
Aug 11, 2009 |
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4
Rats fed a high-fat diet show a stark reduction in their physical endurance and a decline in their cognitive ability after just nine days, a study by Oxford University researchers has shown.
Class of diabetes drugs carries significant cardiovascular risks
Medicine & Health / Medications
Aug 28, 2008 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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A class of oral drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may make heart failure worse, according to an editorial published online in Heart Wednesday by two Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty members.
Eating whole grains lowers heart failure risk, according to new study
Oct 27, 2008 |
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About 5 million people in the United States suffer from heart failure (HF). While some reports indicate that changes to diet can reduce HF risk, few large, prospective studies have been conducted. In a new study researchers ...
Adult bone marrow stem cells injected into skeletal muscle can repair heart tissue
May 28, 2009 |
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University at Buffalo researchers have demonstrated for the first time that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue, reversing heart failure.
Human cardiac master stem cells identified
Jul 01, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have identified the earliest master human heart stem cell from human embryonic stem cells - ISL1+ progenitors - that ...
Study reveals mounting evidence of fish oil's heart health benefits
Aug 03, 2009 |
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There is mounting evidence that omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil supplements not only help prevent cardiovascular diseases in healthy individuals, but also reduce the incidence of cardiac events and mortality in ...
