EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA REGARDING HEART FAILURE

Heart failure means the heart’s incapacity to carry out its activity as a cardiac pump, gradually reducing the global quantity of oxygen and vital nutrients distributed by the blood throughout the organism with lethal consequences.

Heart failure represents 1-2% of the entire health costs in western countries. The scenario of heart failure is well represented by the “ iceberg phenomenon”, in which only the tip is visible (systematic ventricular dysfunction) while the base of the iceberg, the larger section, remains unknown (www.salute.it).

22 million people suffer from heart failure all over the world with a prevalence of 2-5% of the population over 45.

USA (American Heart Association - 2001)
Approximately 5 million Americans suffer from heart failure and 500 thousand new cases are diagnosed each year. There are 260,000 deaths from heart failure in the USA each year. In 2004 alone the direct and indirect costs of heart failure are estimated as 25.8 billion dollars. Every year this pathology causes 12-15 million medical visits and 6.5 million hospital days. The incidence of heart failure in the population is 10 out of every 1000 inhabitants over 65.

Europe (European Society of Cardiology – 2001)
Europe has approximately 700 million inhabitants and at least 10 million of these are affected by heart failure. About half of these patients will die within the next 4 years.
300,000 people die from heart failure in Europe each year.
78% of patients are hospitalised twice a year.

In ITALY there are 1 million people suffering from heart failure. In 30% of the cases the patients are over 65 and the most frequent cause of this pathology is ischaemic cardiopathy.
In Italy there are over 170 thousand hospitalisations a year (Ministry of Health)
The incidence of heart failure every year is one new case for every 1000 inhabitants, however each year the percentage increases by 10%.
In the over-85 age group the incidence increases to 10 patients every 1000 inhabitants.
In Italy the total cost for heart failure can be estimated as around 1.4% of the national health expenditure.

6 RULES for protecting against heart failure

• Reduction of salt intake (maximum 2 g a day)
• Reduction of liquid consumption (maximum 2 litres a day)
• Moderate alcohol consumption (2 glasses of wine a day)
• Total ban on smoking
• Physical activity (20 minutes of fast walking a day are sufficient)
• Vaccination against flu and pneumococcus.