Congestive heart failure

Congestive heart failure is important to the physician who treats elderly patients because of its incidence, prevalence, and high morbidity and mortality and because it often necessitates repeated hospitalizations. Presentation may be atypical and the condition may be precipitated by many of the ills that occur routinely in geriatric practice. Diastolic dysfunction may complicate diagnostic evaluation. Many of the symptoms respond gratifyingly to therapy. Congestive heart failure ranks among the most treatable of the geriatric syndromes. The physician who cares for older patients should be constantly alert for its presence and should keep abreast of the current therapies available and acquire experience in their use.