Heart failure and multimorbidity in Australian general practice.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• General Practice Research

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) disproportionately affects the aging population.
• Existing clinical guidelines often overlook the complexity of managing multiple chronic conditions in HF patients.
• Multimorbidity is a significant challenge in managing elderly patients with chronic diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the prevalence of heart failure (HF) in Australian general practice.
• To determine the extent of multimorbidity among HF patients.
• To identify common co-existing conditions in HF patients managed in primary care.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Bettering the Evaluation And Care of Health (BEACH) program.
• Analyzed 25,790 general practitioner (GP) encounters with patients aged 45 years and older.
• Examined HF prevalence, number of comorbidities, and common disease combinations between November 2012 and March 2016.

Main Results:

• Heart failure (HF) was diagnosed in 4.34% of GP encounters with patients aged ≥45 years.
• Nearly all HF patients (99.1%) had at least one additional chronic condition.
• Over half (53.4%) of HF patients presented with six or more comorbidities, with hypertension and osteoarthritis being the most frequent pair.

Conclusions:

• Approximately 1 in 20-25 GP encounters involve patients aged ≥45 with heart failure (HF) in Australia.
• Multimorbidity is the norm, not the exception, for HF patients in general practice.
• Clinical guidelines must be updated to incorporate comprehensive management strategies for multimorbidity in heart failure care.