Heart failure is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide
and despite recent advances in therapeutic management, hospitalization rates remain
high. The complex interactions of various physiologic, psychological, social, and health
care delivery issues make heart failure a challenging chronic disease to manage. A
better understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, as well as
novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, may result in cost-effective strategies
achieving more drastic control of the epidemic. Prompt diagnosis and optimal treatment
of heart failure can affect long-term outcome. A tool with diagnostic, prognostic, and
treatment-guiding properties in this respect would be valuable. Recent evidence in the
field of molecular biology and heart failure pathophysiology has led to the
identification of novel biomarkers that may have significant advantages. Furthermore,
heart failure is associated with several cardiac and non-cardiac comorbidities that play
an integral role in its development, progression, and response to treatment. The
comorbidity burden is highly associated with hospitalization rate in patients with heart
failure and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, as well as in those with heart
failure and reduced ejection fraction. In the current review we address these issues and
try to analyze this patient population focusing on the need for re-hospitalization and the
poor prognosis.
Keywords: Bendopnea, Comorbidities, Dyspnea, Ejection fraction,
Epidemiology, Fatigue, Heart failure, Peripheral edema, Prognosis, Rehospitalization,
Symptoms.
