Background: Heart failure is a syndrome with increasing prevalence and poor prognosis. The aim of the article is to describe the characteristics, etiology, treatment and short-term prognosis of consecutive patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF) in a regional hospital without Cardiocentre.
Patients and methods: From 1/2007 to 5/2009 in total 752 patients were hospitalized in Hospital in Frýdek-Místek with diagnosis of AHF, 18% of them were in that period re-hospitalized. Data collection was performed by doctors using the National registry of acute heart failure AHEAD. Systematic sorting of patients with heart failure was made on the basis of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute heart failure (2005). Statistical analysis was performed at the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Masaryk University in Brno.
Results: AHF was a reason of 9% of all hospital admissions. This represents approximately 250 hospitalizations due to AHF per 100 000 inhabitants/year. A median of hospital stay was 6.5 days. Patients with de-novo AHF formed 40.8% of all hospitalizations. The most common syndromes of AHF were acute decompensated heart failure (57.7%) and pulmonary oedema (19.8%). According to laboratory tests the incidence of renal insufficiency was in 35.6% of patients, anemia in 39.9%, blood glucose on admission above 10 mmol/l in 29.5% and hyponatremia < 135 mmol/l in 19.1%. During hospitalization, there was a significant increase in the treatment of heart failure. Diuretics were receiving 91% of discharged patients, ACE inhibitors and/or AT2 blockers 85.7% and beta-blockers 69.6% of patients. A total of 30% of discharged patients were not self-sufficient. The total 30-day mortality was 16.8%. Using univariante logistic regression factors most affecting the 30-day mortality were identified: cardiogenic shock, female gender, age over 70 years, acute coronary syndrome, hypotension on admission, atrial fibrillation, renal insufficiency, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anemia, hyperglycemia, hyperkalemia, and hyponatremia.
Conclusion: The paper provides an overview and characteristics of consecutive patients hospitalized in the regional hospital. We identified factors pointing to the adverse short-term prognosis. The work draws attention to social problems, up to 30% of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure were not self-sufficient at discharged.