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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – DALLAS, Feb. 13, 2012 — More than six million American adults suffer from heart failure. But, while the prevalence of
this disease has increased over time, there are signs that deaths from it have not and hospitalization rates may be stabilizing as well.
Healthcare professionals say this is good news and the future looks even more promising.
“Despite the increasing number of people affected, the prognosis for
patients with heart failure has steadily improved,” said Gregg C.
Fonarow, M.D, chairman of American Heart Association Hospital
Accreditation Science Committee and professor of cardiovascular
medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles. “This is
testament in part to better therapies and systems for treating this
condition. There has been so much research and advancement in this area
that what used to be a very dismal diagnosis is no longer the norm.
Used appropriately, available medical and device therapies are even
more effective than originally believed and best practices of care have
now been shown to save lives.”
Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart
muscle is unable to pump enough blood through the heart to meet the
body’s needs for blood and oxygen. Basically, the heart can’t keep up
with its workload.
The weakened heart can’t supply the cells with enough blood. This
results in fatigue and shortness of breath. Everyday activities such as
walking, climbing stairs or carrying groceries can become difficult.
Heart failure is caused by damage to the heart that impairs its ability
to function. However, even for the patient with chronic heart muscle
weakness, a significant amount of heart function can now be restored by
the correct use of heart failure medication and devices.
“Even for our patients with advanced disease, there are so many more
options now available to us,” said Clyde Yancy, M.D., past president of
the American Heart Association and chief of the Division of Cardiology
and the Magerstadt Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School
of Medicine in Chicago. “The use of mechanical support such as
artificial heart pumping devices, has become remarkable. We can sustain
patients long enough to not only allow for heart transplantation but
also to serve as definitive therapy and even more provocatively to
support recovery of heart muscle function even when seemingly dramatic
changes have taken place.”
Along with advanced technologies, improvements in quality of care are
also making a difference in heart failure outcomes.
Studies have shown that heart failure patients treated with American
Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guideline-recommended
therapies are more likely to survive over the next two years. Every 10
percent improvement in the use of guideline-recommended therapies has
been associated with a 13 percent lower risk of death among heart
failure patients over the next two years. (Fonarow G, et al.
Associations between outpatient heart failure process-of-care measures
and mortality. Circulation. 2011;123:1601-1610)
Recent studies also show that patients treated in hospitals
participating in the American Heart Association’s Get With The
Guidelines(R)-Heart Failure program receive higher quality of care and
may experience better outcomes.
Hospital readmissions after treatment for heart failure have been a
growing and costly issue in the past. But Fonarow said greater use of
guideline-recommended therapies, improved care transitions and enhanced
participation in quality improvement efforts are key to turning this
around.
“It’s important for a heart failure patient ― and their
caregivers ― to be aware of what’s going on with their body
during recovery and beyond and to quickly deal with any new or
fluctuating symptoms,” he said. “Sometimes a quick and early call to
your healthcare provider can make a big difference in getting you back
on track rather than dismissing those symptoms until they require more
drastic treatment, including hospitalization.”
That’s a goal of one of the American Heart Association’s latest quality
campaigns ― Target: Heart Failure. The initiative provides
healthcare professionals with content-rich resources and materials
designed to help them improve heart failure awareness, prevention,
treatment and recovery.
Yancy said many people with heart failure are actually able to lead a
full, enjoyable life when the condition is managed with correct
medications and devices and with healthy lifestyle changes. Successful
treatment depends on the willingness of patients and caregivers to get
involved in managing the condition.
“But what’s most encouraging to me is what we’ve learned about the
prevention of heart failure,” he said. “The effective treatment of high
blood pressure and reduction of known risk factors for coronary artery
disease will indeed prevent heart failure from occurring. That’s the
best treatment ― to never have heart failure.”
“The present environment for heart failure is much better than ever
before and the future holds promises that will truly remove ‘failure’
from our description of this illness,” Fonarow said.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association receives
funding mostly from individuals. Foundations and corporations donate as
well, and fund specific programs and events. Strict policies are
enforced to prevent these relationships from influencing the
association’s science content. Financial information for the American
Heart Association, including a list of contributions from
pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, is available at
www.heart.org/corporatefunding
QI12 — 1000 (HF-awareness)
Additional Resources:
— To learn more about heart failure, visit www.heart.org/heartfailure.
— For an important resource to use in talking to your doctor about heart
failure:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartFailure/HeartFailureToolsResources/Heart-Failure-Questions-to-Ask-Your-Doctor_UCM_306372_Article.jsp
— As a caregiver of a loved one with heart failure, your role is very
important ― and it’s just as important for you to take good care
of yourself. There are many resources to help you at
www.heart.org/caregiver.
— To learn more about Target: Heart Failure and Get With The Guidelines,
visit www.heart.org/quality.
— To watch an animation of heart failure compared to the healthy heart:
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