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The past decade has witnessed improved prevention, recognition, and treatment of ischemic heart disease, an important cause of heart failure (HF). However, the U.S. population is aging, which might increase HF prevalence. These investigators assessed trends in hospitalization for HF and associated mortality between 1998 and 2008 in the U.S. Medicare fee-for-service population.
Over 10 years, hospitalizations for HF fell by 29.5% (from 2854 to 2007 per 100,000 person-years) after adjustment for age, sex, and race. Mean duration of hospital stay also declined, from 6.8 days to 6.4 days. Reductions in hospitalization were significant in all race and sex subgroups, although it was smallest in black men, who had an unadjusted decline of only 22.7…