Purpose of review: Worsening heart failure (WHF) has developed as a unique definition within heart failure (HF) in recent years. It captures the disease as a dynamic process. This review describes what is currently known about WHF, why it should be considered a discrete scientific endpoint, and future directions for research.
Recent findings: There is no single agreed upon definition for WHF. It can be identified as being due to treatment side-effects, related to concomitant comorbidity, or true disease progression. Risk scores based on criteria like those already developed for HF can be created to stratify risk for WHF.
Conclusions: WHF is an emerging entity within HF that defines itself as a unique point of interest. Understanding it as a clinical measure of where a patient's HF is evolving allows for identifying patients that require a refreshed approach to their care. Keeping this in mind will help redefine more patient-centric outcome measures in research to come.
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