Heart Failure: Implications for Diagnosis, Medical Management, and Rehabilitation, 2nd Edition

Course Description:

Course Overview

Heart failure is an expensive health condition both internationally and within the United States. According to the most recent data from 2016, 5.7 million Americans have heart failure, with hospitalizations for this condition having tripled between 1979 and 2004 (Ziaeian & Fonarow, 2016). Data specific to both Europe and the US suggest that there has been a plateau or decrease in the incidence of heart failure due to medical therapies (Bahrami et al., 2008; Djousse, Driver, & Gaziano, 2009; GBD 2013Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators, 2015; Ziaeian & Fonarow, 2016). However, these data are suspect to validity as inadequate numbers of non-white and/or female persons are represented in the literature, and there is a lack of quality data from underdeveloped nations (Bahrami et al., 2008; Djousse et al., 2009; GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators, 2015; Gerber et al., 2015; Ziaeian & Fonarow, 2016). There has been a decline in the number of individuals admitted with a primary diagnosis of heart failure, suggesting better medical management; however, the number of individuals admitted with heart failure remains the primary cause of hospital admission (1% to 2%) in the United States and Europe combined (Alla, Zannad, & Filippatos, 2007; Ambrosy et al., 2014; Blecker, Paul, Taksler, Ogedegbe, & Katz, 2013; Chen, Normand, Wang, & Krumholz, 2011; Gheorghiade & Braunwald, 2011; Mosterd, Reitsma, & Grobbee, 2002; Roger et al., 2012; Schaufelberger, Swedberg, Koster, Rosen, & Rosengren, 2004; Stewart et al., 2001; Zannad, Agrinier, & Alla, 2009). Despite the high hospitalization and readmission rates of persons with heart failure, the hospital length of stay has decreased by 1.1 days from 1999 to 2011 (Krumholz, Normand, & Wang, 2014; Ziaeian & Fonarow, 2016). This data suggests that persons with heart failure are being seen by practitioners across the continuum of health care and managed in a shorter length of time.