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Caring for patients with heart failure (HF) can be very complicated. Clinicians can improve HF management not only by adhering to evidence-based treatment guidelines but also by understanding how patients live with the disease outside of the hospital. These investigators identified 1395 adults with self-reported HF (mean age, 68; 49% women) in three NHANES cohorts (1998–1994, 1999–2002, and 2003–2008) and examined patient characteristics and medication use over time.
The proportion of HF patients aged ≥80 increased significantly, from 13% in the earliest cohort to 22% in the most recent cohort. Comorbidity was common and increased in prevalence over time; in the 2003–2008 cohort, 73% of patients with HF had hypertension, 54% had elevated cho…