About Heart Failure Disease

Heart failure is the progressive weakening of the heart muscle that can occur from a variety of causes, particularly heart attacks and hypertension. Heart failure is characterized by high mortality, frequent hospitalizations and poor quality of life. As the ability to keep people from dying from heart attacks has improved, the number of patients living with heart failure has significantly increased during the last 25 years. Despite the dramatic improvements in medical care, heart failure afflicts more than five million Americans, is the leading cause of hospitalizations with more than one million hospitalizations per year, and kills over 200,000 people each year. The estimated direct and indirect cost of heart failure in the United States for 2006 was approximately $30 billion. In Europe, heart failure afflicts more than 14 million people with more than 3.6 million hospitalizations per year. By 2020, the number of people with heart failure in Europe is projected to increase to 30 million, with nine million deaths attributed to the disease.

Risk factors for heart failure include:

• Hypertension (high blood pressure);
• Coronary artery disease;
• Diabetes;
• Obesity;
• Hyperthyroidism;
• Severe emphysema;
• Previous history of heart disease;
• Excessive alcohol consumption;
• Smoking;
• Long-term use of anabolic steroids;
• Age of 65 or more; and
• Slightly higher risk for males than females.

For more information on heart failure, follow these helpful links:

http://www.heartinfo.org
http://www.americanheart.org
http://www.heartfailureinfo.com
http://my.webmd.com

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