Congestive heart failure epidemiology and demographics


 * Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: ; Saleh El Dassouki, M.D [mailto:seldassouki@hotmail.com], Atif Mohammad, M.D.

Overview
Heart failure affects close to 5 million people in the United States of America and each year close to 500,000 new cases are diagnosed. Congestive heart failure is responsible for a significant portion of the healthcare budget, and more than 50% of patients seek re-admission within 6 months after treatment and the average duration of hospital stay is 6 days.

Prevalance
In 2005 the prevalence among adults aged 20 and older in the United States was 5,300,000 (about 2,650,000 males, and 2,650,000 females).

Incidence

 * Data from the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study indicate that;
 * 1) Heart failure (HF) incidence approaches 10 per 1,000 population after age 65.
 * 2) 75% of heart failure cases have antecedent hypertension. About 22% of male and 46% of female myocardial infarction (MI) victims will be disabled with heart failure within 6 years of the index event.
 * 3) *At age 40, the lifetime risk of developing heart failure for both men and women is 1 in 5.
 * 4) *At age 40, the lifetime risk of heart failure occurring without antecedent myocardial infarction is 1 in 9 for men and 1 in 6 for women.
 * 5) *The lifetime risk doubles for people with blood pressure >160/90 mm Hg compared to those with blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg.
 * A study conducted in Olmsted County, Minnesota, showed that the incidence of heart failure (ICD9/428) has not declined during two decades, but survival after onset has increased overall, with less improvement among women and elderly persons.

Age
Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. In developed countries, the mean age of patients with heart failure is 75 years old. In developing countries, two to three percent of the population suffers from heart failure, but in those 70 to 80 years old, it occurs in 20—30 percent.

Sex
Men have a higher incidence of heart failure, but the overall prevalence rate is similar in both sexes, since women survive longer after the onset of heart failure. Women tend to be older when diagnosed with heart failure (after menopause), they are more likely than men to have diastolic dysfunction, and seem to experience a lower overall quality of life than men after diagnosis.

Race
New information suggests that elements of heart failure in African Americans and Caucasians may be different and therapy for heart failure has different efficacies depending on racial, ethnic, and genetic backgrounds.

Country Specific Causes
In tropical countries, the most common cause of HF is valvular heart disease or some type of cardiomyopathy. Moreover as underdeveloped countries become more affluent, there has also been an increase in diabetes, hypertension and obesity which has resulted in heart failure.

In USA, HF is much higher in African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and recent immigrants from the eastern bloc countries like Russia. This high prevalence in these ethnic populations has been linked to high incidence of diabetes and hypertension. In many new immigrants to the USA the high prevalence of heart failure has largely been attributed to lack of preventive health care or substandard treatment.

Costs
Mostly as a result of the costs of hospitalization, heart failure is associated with high costs which have been estimated to amount to 2% of the total budget of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, and more than $35 billion in the United States.