Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department: the SAFE-SIMEU Epidemiological Study

The Journal of Emergency Medicine
Andrea FabbriItalian Society of Emergency Medicine (SIMEU)

Abstract

Patients with acute heart failure (AHF) have high rates of attendance to emergency departments (EDs), with significant health care costs. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of patients attending Italian EDs for AHF and their diagnostic and therapeutic work-up. We carried out a retrospective analysis on 2683 cases observed in six Italian EDs for AHF (January 2011 to June 2012). The median age of patients was 84 years (interquartile range 12), with females accounting for 55.8% of cases (95% confidence interval [CI] 53.5-57.6%). A first episode of AHF was recorded in 55.3% (95% CI 55.4-57.2%). Respiratory disease was the main precipitating factor (approximately 30% of cases), and multiple comorbidities were recorded in > 50% of cases (history of acute coronary syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, valvular heart disease). The treatment was based on oxygen (69.7%; 67.9-71.5%), diuretics (69.2%; 67.9-71.5%), nitroglycerin (19.7%; 18.3-21.4%), and noninvasive ventilation (15.2%; 13.8-16.6%). Death occurred within 6 h in 2.5% of cases (2.0-3.1%), 6.4% (5.5-7.3%) were referred to the care of their general practitioners within a few hours from ED attendance or after short-term ...Continue Reading

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