Heart-Failure Hospitalizations: Few Signals of Progress

To determine trends in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in the U.S., researchers analyzed 10 years of data (2005–2014) from the community-based epidemiological Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

The researchers focused on hospitalizations for HF, based on International Classification of Diseases–9th Revision HF codes in any position (i.e., as a primary or secondary code), in patients aged ≥55 with home addresses within ARIC communities. Overall, 23,410 hospitalizations were identified; the analysis included only hospitalizations classified as involving definite or possible ADHF (8069 hospitalizations without symptom or sign of HF decompensation and 6202 considered non-ADHF were excluded).

Of the final sample, 50% involv…