Mortality among heart failure patient population in Hungary in 2017

Heart failure is a high mortality cardiovascular disease affecting a huge patient population. Mortality rate data and their changes are important information regarding therapy effectiveness.

To study the death rate of heart failure and its change in comparison with the period before 2010.

In the year 2017, data of heart failure patients were analysed: number, overall and in-hospital mortality rate, 1-6-12-month death rates. Patients reported with codes of I50 and I42 blocks of the ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision) classification were collected, irrespective of whether the codes were used as principal or additional diagnoses. Only all-cause mortality data were assessed.

The prevalence of patients treated with heart failure was 1.1%. In-hospital death rate was 3.9% of this patient population, while 1-6-12-month death rates were 5.2-12-17%.

The prevalence of heart failure was less in 2017 than the 1.6% value for the year 2009. This can be due to the fact that this study collected patients treated or visited only this one year, while the other study in 2009 assessed patients diagnosed also in the previous 5 years but not appearing at any medical visit in 2009. Mortality rate data have also shown a remarkable improvement in comparison with the year 2009, but they still remained above the values reported for Western Europe. This improvement can be explained with the better up-titration of medications offering longer survival and the better adherence of patients. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(24): 1012-1014.