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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
New study links vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease and death
Nov 16, 2009 |
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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 ...
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.
Popular diabetes drugs linked to increased risk of heart failure and death
Medicine & Health / Medications
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Sulphonylureas, a type of drug widely used to treat type 2 diabetes, carries a greater risk of heart failure and death compared with metformin, another popular antidiabetes drug.
Heart failure linked to gene variant affecting vitamin D activation
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Previous studies have shown a link between low vitamin D status and heart disease. Now a new study shows that patients with high blood pressure who possess a gene variant that affects an enzyme critical to normal vitamin ...
New genetic cause of cardiac failure discovered
Nov 25, 2009 |
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Over the course of a lifetime, the heart pumps some 250 million liters of blood through the body. In the order to do this, the muscle fibers of the heart have to be extremely durable. The research group headed by Dr. Wolfgang ...
New tool for helping pediatric heart surgery
Nov 24, 2009 |
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A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University has developed a way to simulate blood flow on the computer to optimize surgical designs. It is the basis of a new tool that may help ...
Newer heart devices significantly improve survival, complication rate and quality of life
Nov 17, 2009 |
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A new generation of implanted devices that help a failing heart function properly is significantly more effective than the previous version, making these new devices an appropriate permanent therapy for many of the more than ...
Wide Disparities Found in Age of Hospitalization for Patients of Different Races
Dec 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from Yale School of Public Health shows that blacks are admitted to the hospital at a significantly younger age than their white peers for a host of preventable medical conditions, ...
Europe's device therapy use for heart failure doubles 2004-2008, some countries have low uptake
Nov 30, 2009 |
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The use of implantable devices for the treatment of heart failure increased "enormously" in Europe between the years 2004 and 2008, but there still remain large differences between countries, according to a study reported ...
Abnormal cholesterol levels may raise risk of heart failure
Nov 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Even if you never have a heart attack, abnormal blood cholesterol levels may significantly raise your risk of heart failure, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart As ...
Invention will help speed development of drug treatments for heart failure
Nov 23, 2009 |
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Research conducted by University of Minnesota scientists, in collaboration with Celladon Corporation, has led to the invention of technology to more rapidly identify compounds for the treatment of heart failure.
Hospital report cards do not appear to result in significant improvements
Nov 18, 2009 |
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An analysis of quality of cardiac care following the public release of data on measures of care at hospitals in Ontario, Canada, did not result in significant systemwide improvement in hospitals' performance on most quality ...
Heart failure patients with kidney dysfunction don't recover well after hospital discharge
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Most heart failure patients who develop kidney failure in the hospital do not recover from it before going home and are at increased risk of either being re-hospitalized or dying within the year, according to a Henry Ford ...
Family partnership, education interventions lower heart failure patients' salt consumption
Nov 17, 2009 |
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Educating family members of heart failure (HF) patients about the health benefits of consuming a low-salt diet and providing skills for support and communication can effectively reduce HF patients' sodium consumption, according ...
Inhibition of GRK2 is protective against acute cardiac stress injuries
Nov 17, 2009 |
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Inhibition of a protein known to contribute to heart failure also appears to be protective of the heart in more acute cardiac stress injury, namely ischemia reperfusion, according to two studies conducted at the Center for ...
