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Heart failure

Background

Overview

Definition
HF is a clinical syndrome that results from structural or functional impairment of filling or ejection of blood from the heart. HF can be associated with either reduced ejection fraction (≤ 40%), preserved ejection fraction (≥ 50%), or borderline ejection fraction (41-50%).
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Pathophysiology
The most common causes of HF include ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, valvular and rheumatic heart disease, genetic cardiomyopathies, and congenital heart disease.
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Epidemiology
In the US, the age and sex-adjusted incidence of HF is estimated at 219.3 cases per 100,000 person-years. Its prevalence is estimated at 1915 persons per 100,000 population.
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Disease course
Clinical manifestations relate to pulmonary edema (dyspnea, orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea), peripheral edema (ankle swelling, abdominal bloating), and activation of inflammatory pathways (early satiety, cachexia). Severe HF leads to manifestations related to hypoperfusion, spanning from mild fatigue and exertional intolerance to cardiogenic shock.
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Prognosis and risk of recurrence
The 1-year and 5-year mortality associated with HF are estimated at 20.2% and 56.2%, respectively. Death is due to non-cardiovascular events in over 50% of patients.
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Guidelines

Key sources

The following summarized guidelines for the evaluation and management of heart failure are prepared by our editorial team based on guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (ADA 2025), the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI/NAEMSP/AHA/ACC/ACEP 2025), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC 2024,2023,2022,2021), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC/EACTS 2024), the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT/SVM/SCMR/SCA/AHA/ASNC/HRS/ACC/ACS 2024), the ...
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