The findings suggest that heart failure prevention and treatment have not kept up with those of other cardiovascular diseases, according to Gregg Fonarow, MD, codirector of the preventative cardiology program at UCLA.
The skyrocketing use of cholesterol-lowering statins for heart disease, for example, has translated into fewer repeat heart attacks and hospitalizations. However, the same can’t be said of medications that can help prevent heart failure, says Dr. Fonarow.
“There remain large numbers of eligible patients who are not receiving one or more of the therapies that are recommended in national guidelines, and as a consequence they face higher hospitalization and mortality rates than they need to,” says Dr. Fonarow, who coauthored a 2008 AHA statement on heart failure prevention.
People who are obese, have diabetes, or most importantly, have high blood pressure, are all at risk for heart failure. Diet, exercise, and medication, if necessary, can help preserve heart function.
At-risk patients should be monitored and treated, according to the guidelines issued by the AHA and the American College of Cardiology. They recommend that people who have no heart failure symptoms, but do have structural abnormalities in their hearts, should in some cases be prescribed medications such as ACE inhibitors.
Dr. Liu’s data should serve as a warning that the prevention and treatment of heart failure needs to improve, says Dr. Fonarow.
“It is striking that, despite having very effective therapies that have been proven to reduce the risk of hospitalization and mortality, there’s still a substantial proportion of patients who could benefit from those treatments who are not receiving them due to oversights and unreliable care,” he says. “A concerted, focused, and comprehensive effort to improve the quality of care and outcomes for patients with heart failure is urgently needed.”
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Comments (1)
How interesting, a rise in heart failure – could this by any chance be contributed to by the rapidly increasing use of statins over this period? They do after all inhibit the production of hydroxymethylgluterly coenzyme A redactase and Co Q 10 (among other things), which support healthy cardiac function.