[Prevalence of heart failure in Portugal]

The incidence and prevalence of heart failure are increasing, which presents an enormous problem for health care systems. In Portugal, there are no studies assessing this issue. The EPICA study was designed to estimate the prevalence of chronic heart failure in Portugal in 1998. This is a community-based epidemiological survey involving 13,000 primary care recipients, selected through a two-stage sampling procedure: each GP, from a random sample of 500, with proportionality to district population, will include 26 primary care recipients recruited sequentially within each age group. The cases will be identified according to ESC Guidelines: symptoms and signs of heart failure and echocardiographic evidence of cardiac dysfunction. The individuals will be screened for echo examination on the basis of a structured questionnaire (EPICA questionnaire) that was drafted from seven questionnaires previously used in epidemiological surveys for heart failure. Age and gender adjusted estimates of the prevalence of chronic heart failure will be obtained as well as a prevalence estimate for the whole population. The study will also estimate the test statistics (sensitivity, specificity and predictive values) for the EPICA questionnaire compared to echo data, as well as the seven other questionnaires used for the diagnosis of chronic heart failure. Their agreement will also be evaluated.

93% of the GPs recruited have participated. The final data will be available in early 2000.