Chronic heart failure diagnosis is often delayed

Risk of chronic heart failure often underestimated

09/05/2014

Two to three million Germans suffer from chronic heart failure. In total, around 28 million people are affected in Europe, reports the European Society of Cardiology on the occasion of the European Day of Heart Failure. Often, the disease is first diagnosed significantly delayed, which can have correspondingly dramatic consequences for those affected.

In Germany, according to the University Hospital Essen, also involved in the actions for the day of heart failure, "more than 45,000 people annually from heart failure - and rising." Compared to the Austrian news agency "APA" said the deputy head of the Association heart failure of the Austrian Cardiology Society, Deddo Mörtl, said that "after initial diagnosis, one third of patients in the first year" dies, and that "with adequate therapy, the life expectancy of heart failure patients could be doubled". The risk of chronic heart failure is clearly underestimated by a large part of the population, the expert reports, citing a recent representative survey.

Shortness of breath, water in the legs and heart arrhythmias
Regarding the symptoms of heart failure, Professor Till Neumann from the West German Heart Center Essen at the Essen University Hospital explained that "in heart failure, the heart is not pumping enough to supply the body and organs with blood and oxygen." "As a result, patients are suffering from shortness of breath Water retention and cardiac dysrhythmia, "continues Neumann. In a press release on the occasion of the European Cardiac Weakness Day, University Hospital Würzburg outlines the development of cardiac insufficiency in cases where the heart is getting heavier in the event of excessive stress, such as chronic hypertension, in order to cope with the strain. "If it grows too strong, then die from the heart muscle cells, the tissue is scarred and permanently weakened - a chronic heart failure has arisen," the University Hospital continues. "It is important that sufferers recognize the heart failure early and go to the doctor," said Professor Neumann.

Initial diagnosis could occur more frequently at established physicians
The most important diagnostic procedures for heart failure are clinical examinations, the creation of electrocardiograms (ECG), cardiac ultrasound examinations and the determination of the biomarker BNP in the blood. However, the diagnosis is usually made at an advanced time of the disease, if already show clear symptoms, such as swollen legs or massive dyspnea. The treatment is made considerably more difficult by this late diagnosis. Here, the experts also see the doctors in charge, because a large part of the initial diagnosis could take place at established physicians, said Christian Ebner, head of the Austrian Association heart failure cardiologists, told the "APA". In his opinion, patients in the two mild stages of heart failure should be treated as outpatients by GPs. However, both in Austria and in Germany, this requirement of the expert is opposed by structural weaknesses in the health care system, which tend to force patients to undergo inpatient care and make outpatient treatment more difficult. (Fp)