Background and Rationale
Heart Failure – a Common Diagnosis
The diagnosis of heart failure affects every 5th person upon their 40th year of life. For people over 60 years old it’s the most common reason for hospitalization. Due to its high mortality, around 50 % of the patients die within the first five years after receiving their diagnosis. Repeated decompensation and further hospitalization no only worsen the prognosis, but also reduce quality of life and lead to high social costs.
The Importance of Personalized Medicine
Comprehensive care has been shown to significantly improve prognosis with regard to mortality and hospitalizations (1). This includes optimization of medication to the maximally tolerated dose and patient education on lifestyle measures and warning signs. A further cornerstone of state-of-the art care in this condition is exercise training.
(1) Díez-Villanueva et al 2024, McDonagh TA 2024, Schwaab 2023, Yancy CW 2017, Mosterd 200.
Closing the Gap
By establishing a network, we aim to close these gaps and improve patients’ prognosis and quality of life. Consultations within the framework of the Network pilot project currently take place at the HGK and at the KSGR.
Study Objectives
The core element of the Heart Failure Network is the specialized heart failure nursing staff, who see the patients five times within one year for outpatient consultations at the HGK and the KSGR.
Our goal is to establish an important pillar of care and to ensure sustainability of a heart-friendly lifestyle in order to optimize prognosis.
