The Euro Heart Failure Survey of The EUROHEART Survey Programme: A survey on the quality of care among patients with heart failure in Europe

Abstract

Background: The EUROHEART programme is a rolling programme of cardiovascular surveys among the member nations Ž . of the European Society of Cardiology ESC . These surveys will provide information on the nature of cardiovascular disease and its management. This manuscript describes a survey into the nature and management of heart failure. Aims: The EuroHeart Failure survey aims to describe the quality of hospital care, diagnostic and therapeutic, for patients with suspected or confirmed heart failure in ESC member countries. Patients will be interviewed subsequent to hospital discharge to assess their understanding of their condition, side effects from and their compliance with therapy and their satisfaction with the management for heart failure. The quality of management will be judged against the recommendations contained in the ESC guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. Outcome will be further assessed by repeat interviews in 6᎐12 months time. A further survey of heart failure in 2001r2002 is also planned. Methods: A prospective survey of all deaths and Ž . discharges from medical cardiology, internal medicine and geriatric medicine and cardiac surgical wards to identify patients with heart failure, suspected or confirmed. Approximately 70 hospital clusters, comprising two to six hospitals in each cluster, in 24 member countries of the ESC are conducting the study. At the time of writing, approximately 30 000 deaths and discharges have been screened and approximately 4000 patients have been enrolled. Conclusions: The EuroHeart Survey will allow actual practice to be compared to ESC guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. The surveys and guidelines should prove mutually informative. The main EuroHeart Failure project will be completed by late 2000. However,

Fatigue is a Prevalent and Severe Symptom Associated with Uncertainty and Sense of Coherence in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

“…• cognitive disorientation and communicative limitations (e.g., loss of hearing and speech) • inability to understand and speak Swedish Procedure Paper I and II Patients were recruited from the EuroHeart Failure Survey, a prospective survey aimed at describing the quality of care in patients hospitalized with heart failure in 24 countries within the European Society of Cardiology (Cleland et al, 2000). All patients admitted to the Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra were continuously screened during 12 weeks and patients that fulfi lled the inclusion criteria were enrolled.…”

Recall of lifestyle advice in patients recently hospitalised with heart failure: A EuroHeart Failure Survey analysis

“…Details on design and the selection criteria of the EuroHeart Failure Survey have been published [7,8]. In brief, between March 2000 and May 2001, over a 6 week period in each participating institution, 46,788 unselected discharges or deaths for any reason in cardiology, general internal medicine, cardiovascular surgery, and geriatrics departments of 115 hospitals from 24 European countries were screened to see if they met at least one of four inclusion criteria:…”

Clinical service organisation for heart failure

“…In Connecticut, USA, between 1991 and 1994, 44% of all patients admitted for congestive heart failure were re-admitted (all causes) within six months (Krumholz 1997). In the recent EuroHeart Failure survey, which included 24 countries, 24% of patients admitted with confirmed or suspected heart failure were readmitted to hospital within 12 weeks -heart failure was the principal cause of readmission (20% of readmissions) and contributed to a further 16% of readmissions (Cleland 2003). Studies suggest that many early re-admissions for heart failure are preventable (Feenstra 1998;Michalsen 1998;Vinson 1990).…”