Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Sep;57(9):1587-94.
doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02407.x. Epub 2009 Aug 13.

Clinical features, treatment practices, and hospital and long-term outcomes of older patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure: The Worcester Heart Failure Study

Jane S Saczynski  1 , Chad E Darling, Frederick A Spencer, Darleen Lessard, Joel M Gore, Robert J Goldberg
Affiliations

Clinical features, treatment practices, and hospital and long-term outcomes of older patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure: The Worcester Heart Failure Study

Jane S Saczynski et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine age-specific differences in clinical presentation, receipt of therapeutic practices and lifestyle recommendations, and hospital and long-term survival in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure HF.

Design: Population-based study.

Setting: The Worcester Heart Failure Study, a population-based study of residents of the a large Central New England metropolitan area hospitalized for decompensated HF at 11 greater-Worcester medical centers.

Participants: Four thousand five hundred thirty-four patients hospitalized for decompensated HF during 1995 and 2000.

Measurements: Medical records were reviewed for demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics and hospital survival status. Long-term follow-up of discharged hospital patients was conducted through 2005. Patients were compared according to four age groups (<65, 65-74, 75-84, and > or =85).

Results: Mean age was 76; 24.0% were aged 85 and older. Patients aged 75 and older were more likely to be female and to have multiple comorbidities, a lower body mass index at the time of hospitalization, and higher ejection fraction findings. Older patients were significantly more likely to receive symptom-modifying medications and less likely to receive disease-modifying medications than younger patients. Older age was directly associated with higher in-hospital, 30-day, and 1-year death rates in crude and multivariable-adjusted analyses.

Conclusion: The results of this community-wide study suggest that clinical, treatment, and prognostic factors differ according to age in patients hospitalized for decompensated HF. These high-risk patients warrant special attention in future studies to improve their management and long-term survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Long-term Survival According to Age (Worcester Heart Failure Study)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Roger VL, Weston SA, Redfield MM, et al. Trends in Heart Failure Incidence and Survival in a Community-Based Population. JAMA. 2004;292(3):344–350. - PubMed
    1. Huynh BC, Rovner A, Rich MW. Long-term Survival in Elderly Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure: 14-Year Follow-up From a Prospective Randomized Trial. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(17):1892–1898. - PubMed
    1. Pulignano G, Del Sindaco D, Tavazzi L, et al. Clinical features and outcomes of elderly outpatients with heart failure followed up in hospital cardiology units: Data from a large nationwide cardiology database (IN-CHF Registry) American Heart Journal. 2002;143(1):45–55. - PubMed
    1. Goldberg RJ, Spencer FA, Farmer C, Lessard D, Pezzella SM, Meyer TE. Use of Disease-Modifying Therapies in Patients Hospitalized with Heart Failure: A Population-Based Perspective. The American Journal of Medicine. 2007;120(1):98. - PubMed
    1. Mahjoub H, Rusinaru D, Souliere V, Durier C, Peltier M, Tribouilloy C. Long-term survival in patients older than 80 years hospitalised for heart failure. A 5-year prospective study. European Journal of Heart Failure. 2008;10(1):78–84. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances