Multimorbidity and acute heart failure in internal medicine

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Internal Medicine
• Geriatrics

Background:

• Acute heart failure (AHF) is a significant cause of hospitalization, particularly in older adults.
• Understanding patient characteristics and comorbidity patterns is crucial for improving AHF management.
• Identifying predictors of adverse outcomes like death and readmission is essential for patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the characteristics of patients hospitalized for AHF.
• To investigate the clustering of comorbidities in AHF patients.
• To identify clinical variables associated with death or readmission in AHF.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of clinical records for patients admitted with AHF over three years.
• Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to assess comorbidity distribution.
• Logistic Regression (LR) models to analyze predictors of death and readmission.

Main Results:

• The median age of AHF patients was 80 years, predominantly female, with multiple comorbidities.
• Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and anemia were common.
• Previous or repeated hospital admissions were the strongest predictors of death or readmission.

Conclusions:

• Infections, anemia, and rapid ventricular response in atrial fibrillation (AF) were primary AHF causes.
• 16% of patients died during hospitalization; 25.6% died and 56.3% were readmitted within a year post-discharge.
• Outpatient strategies targeting infections, anemia, and AF may reduce AHF burden.