A Study of Clinical Profile and Outcome of Acute Heart Failure in Elderly Patients

The significant increase of life expectancies over the last few decades, has lead to a major change in the morbidity and mortality profile of elders. Heart Failure (HF) is predominantly a disorder of the elderly with rates increasing exponentially with time.

The Observational and prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital. The study included all patients >60 years of age diagnosed as acute heart failure as per Boston Criteria. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were excluded. Patients were followed till either discharge or death.

Total 56 patients were enrolled for the study. Male and female formed 53.57% and 46.43% of study population respectively. Based on Ejection fraction on 2D Echocardiography Diastolic HF (EF >40%) was seen in 30 patients (53.57%) while systolic dysfunction was seen in 26 patients (46.43%). As per Boston score criteria, maximum patient 33 (66.07) fell into range of 8-12 while remaining had score range 5-7. None of the patients were in lesser score range of 1-4. Out of 56 patients 44 (78.57%) were discharged 12 (21.43%) patients expired.