Are We Doing Better in Treating Hospitalized Patients with Acute Heart Failure?

To determine trends in patient and hospitalization characteristics, resource utilization, and outcomes, investigators with the Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure (GWTG–HF) registry studied people hospitalized with heart failure from 2011 through 2016.

The researchers used a standardized risk-stratification model to classify mortality risk in 165,262 admissions from 300 sites as low (66%), intermediate (32%), or high (2%). Mortality was 12% in the high-risk group, 5% in the intermediate-risk group, and 2% in the low-risk group. To examine postdischarge outcomes, investigators linked registry data with Medicare inpatient claims. In the Medicare subgroup (N=24,374), 1-year mortality for hospitalization survivors was 41% overall and 72% for h…