Heart Failure

There are many possible causes, including:

• Heart attack
• Neglected and rare diseases, such as Chagas, rheumatic heart disease, Kawasaki disease and cardiac amyloidosis;
• Cardiac conditions, such as heart muscle disease, coronary heart disease, valve disease, congenital heart disease, pericardial disease and rhythm disorders
• Chronic lung disease
• Poor lifestyle choices, such as a high salt diet, smoking tobacco, alcohol or drug misuse
• Failure to take preventative medications

Heart failure is the world’s leading cause of hospitalization. It results in a burden that is felt at every level of healthcare:

• For systems and healthcare workers assisting with greater numbers of very ill patients
• For health economies with increasing costs, particularly in a disease area where rehospitalizations are so high: 50% are readmitted within six months of discharge
• For patients who are diagnosed with a progressive disease without a cure, and their carers.

The prognosis for those diagnosed with heart failure is poor:

• 17-45% of patient deaths occur within one year of hospital admission
• 45-60% of deaths occur within five years of admission

But heart failure also takes its toll on people’s daily lives, often resulting in a reduced ability to lead the same lifestyles as before.

“In my 20s and 30s I never thought about my heart health. I stopped exercising when I left school, my diet was pretty bad and I was a smoker. By my late 30s I had gained quite a bit of weight, I couldn’t climb the stairs without getting out of breath and my legs were swollen. I didn’t realize this meant I was retaining fluid which is a classic symptom of heart failure.

“A few years later, my breathlessness was getting worse and my legs were an unusually pale colour. But I still didn’t go to my doctor … I think I was scared of what he’d say. By the next year I was coughing a lot and I felt like I couldn’t breathe when I was lying in bed. I finally went to see the doctor who diagnosed me with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease. Shortly after this I was diagnosed with progressive heart failure and my heart was working at only 30% of it function. That dropped to 20% within a couple of months.

“In hospital, a cardiologist told me that I was in serious trouble, so as well as taking my medications I stopped smoking and drinking, and started eating healthily. Within a few months I was able to go for short walks and that progressed quite quickly to longer exercise sessions.

“My family had a history of heart disease but I was determined not to let this condition get the better of me. Now I no longer need the prescription medicines and heart health has become a way of life for me.”