Heart Failure in the Elderly

Abstract

Heart failure is a progressive and often fatal disorder. The prevalence and incidence of heart failure increase continuously with advancing age. Heart failure imposes an enormous burden on society and healthcare systems as well as on the affected patient and their family. Despite recent major advancements in the pharmacological therapy of heart failure, prognosis remains poor with high morbidity and mortality. With a further aging population, an epidemic-like increase in the number of patients with heart failure is expected, making a holistic approach and the stringent use of currently available diagnostic and therapeutic modalities indispensable. This article summarizes current approaches to the diagnosis as well as to the pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapy of heart failure in the elderly patient.

Palliativ indsats til ældre med kronisk hjertesvigt — en systematisk litteraturgennemgang

“…Fokus er i højere grad udfordringer end løsninger, hvor adskillige studier sammenligner hjertesvigtspatienters prognoser og fysiske symptomer med cancerpatienters Ex: [24][25][26][27][28][29][30] . På trods af forbedret behandling viser studier, at mortaliteten blandt patienter med kronisk hjertesvigt på flere måder er højere end hos cancerpatienter, ligesom maengden af symptomer, der påvirker almentilstanden, er større 25,28,[31][32][33][34][35][36] . Kroniske hjertesvigtpatienter lever med flere symptomer i laengere tid end cancerpatienter, og må leve med usikkerheden om mulighed for en pludselig død 37 .…”