HF hospitalizations triple from 1979 to 2004

Issue: September 2008

The rate of heart failure hospitalization in the United States has progressively grown during the past two decades, particularly among the elderly.

Researchers from the CDC in Atlanta examined data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey gathered between 1979 and 2004. The researchers also looked at whether the HF diagnosis was a first diagnosis or an additional diagnosis.

In 1979, 1,274,000 patients with any mention of HF diagnosis were hospitalized. By 2004, 3,860,000 patients with HF were hospitalized. According to the researchers, 65% to 70% of these patients had additional diagnoses of HF. The increase in HF hospitalization also correlated with the age of the patients; as the age of the patients increased, so did their rates of HF hospitalization. More than 80% of the hospitalizations involved patients aged older than 65 years. Age-adjusted hospitalization rate increased from 219 per 100,000 in 1979 to 390 per 100,000 in 2004 (relative percent change, 79; 95% CI, 67%-93%).

“With the increased aging of the U.S. population and the advanced therapeutic interventions that improve survival, it is expected that HF hospitalizations at older ages and the associated economic burden to Medicare will continue to increase in the future,” the researchers wrote.

For more information:

J Am Card Cardiol. 2008;52:428-434.

It is important to see that predictions that were made early on about the hospital patients with HF have in fact come true. What is also fascinating about this is the table listing of discharges and where the patients are going. There are an increased number of patients who are not going home, but who are going to some intermediary facility or to long-term care, which increases the expense of the care and heightens our need for improving transition to care to prevent rehospitalization and thus prevent early mortality.

– Ileana Pina, MD
Cardiology Today Editorial Board member