Heart Failure Hospitalization Trend Rises By Paula Rasich Reviewed By Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC (CardioSmart) A new study indicates that the number of people hospitalized with failing hearts nearly tripled over the last two and half decades. And researchers estimate that this upward trend will continue to climb.

More than 5 million Americans live with heart failure, a chronic condition that often worsens over time leading to severe heart failure, hospitalization and death.

When researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta analyzed data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, an annual report on in-patient care from about 500 hospitals nationwide, they found that heart failure-related hospitalizations jumped from just over 1 million to nearly 4 million between 1979 and 2004.  

Also, researchers discovered that more than 80% of the patients were age 65 or older, and that for the majority of heart failure patients, hospitalization was the result of another health problem. For instance, the data revealed that 70% of the patients had at least one additional condition such as pneumonia or kidney disease as their primary reason for hospitalization, whereas 30% had heart failure as their main diagnosis.   

“This means that if we want to reduce hospitalization for heart failure, we need to stress not only treatment of heart failure but also treatment and control of other diseases that contribute to heart failure hospitalization,” says lead study author Jing Fang, MD, an epidemiologist in the division for heart disease and stroke prevention at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Atlanta. “Heart failure is a condition that is caused by many conditions such as hypertension, coronary heart disease or chronic heart disease.”

Why is this important? In an accompanying editorial, Javed Butler, MD, MPH, and Andreas Kalogeropoulos, MD, of Emory University Hospital in Atlanta point out that heart failure hospitalization is one of the most important risk factors for dying, and for half, leads to repeat hospitalization.

Researchers say the next step is to control heart failure early on with more comprehensive patient care. “Hospital care for heart failure is important, but to reduce hospitalization patients will need better out-patient care, including regular visits with their cardiologist or primary care physician, institutional care or national nursing home care,” says Dr. Fang.

These findings are published in the August 4th  issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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Sources:

Fang J. et al.  Heart Failure-Related Hospitalization in the U.S., 1979-2004.  Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2008.

Butler Javed and Kalogeropoulos Andreas. Worsening Heart Failure Hospitalization Epidemic.  We Do Not Know How to Prevent and We Do Not Know How To Treat! Editorial: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2008.

Jing Fang, MD, Epidemiologist, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.