Heart failure: preventing disease and death worldwide

Abstract

Executive Summary Heart failure is a life-threatening disease and addressing it should be considered a global health priority. At present, approximately 26 million people worldwide are living with heart failure. The outlook for such patients is poor, with survival rates worse than those for bowel, breast or prostate cancer. Furthermore, heart failure places great stresses on patients, caregivers and healthcare systems. Demands on healthcare services, in particular, are predicted to increase dramatically over the next decade as patient numbers rise owing to ageing populations, detrimental lifestyle changes and improved survival of those who go on to develop heart failure as the final stage of another disease. It is time to ease the strain on healthcare systems through clear policy initiatives that prioritize heart failure prevention and champion equity of care for all. Despite the burdens that heart failure imposes on society, awareness of the disease is poor. As a result, many premature deaths occur. This is in spite of the fact that most types of heart failure are preventable and that a healthy lifestyle can reduce risk. Even after heart failure has developed, premature deaths could be prevented if people were taught to recognize the symptoms and seek immediate medical attention. Public awareness campaigns focusing on these messages have great potential to improve outcomes for patients with heart failure and ultimately to save lives.

Health effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telehealthcare for heart failure: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which the heart muscle is weakened and is therefore unable to pump blood sufficiently through the body [1, 2]. HF often develops after other conditions have damaged the heart.…”

“…HF costs an estimated $20 billion each year in the United States [7]. This total cost includes the cost of medications to treat HF and the cost of healthcare services [1, 2]. …”

“…The prevention of HF-related disease and death needs to be made a worldwide healthcare priority [1, 2]. Despite the increasing number of people living with and dying as a result of HF, awareness of HF is low among the public, politicians, and some health professionals.…”

Neuroinflammation in heart failure: new insights for an old disease

“…Both HFpEF and HFrEF are commonly viewed as the terminal stage of various CVDs; however, their respective aetiologies remains unclear, as both are often accompanied by various cardiac and non‐cardiac comorbidities (Paulus & Tschope, ; Ponikowski et al . ). The most frequent HFrEF comorbidities are coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction (MI), while the most frequent comorbidities in HFpEF patients are non‐cardiac, such as obesity, hypertension, type‐2 diabetes and renal failure (Paulus & Tschope, ; van Empel & Brunner‐La Rocca, ; Mozaffarian et al .…”

“…2014), and heart failure (HF), which affects 20% of the population over the age of 65 (Ponikowski et al . ), specifically, is projected to double in prevalence by 2030 (Heidenreich et al . ).…”