Thursday, February 28, 2008

More elderly Americans are living with heart failure
By Kelly Winget

A recent DCRI study found that although fewer elderly Americans have been recently diagnosed with heart failure, more people 65 and older are living longer with the condition.

The study reviewed data on more than 622,000 Medicare patients, all 65 and older, who were diagnosed with heart failure between 1994 and 2003. The results are published in the February 25 issue the Archives of Internal Medicine . The goal was to establish how prevalent heart failure is, as well as measure the survival rate after the diagnosis.

Heart failure affects nearly 5 million people in the U.S., and approximately 300,000 people die from the condition every year. The number of people 65 and older who were hospitalized for heart failure increased by more than 30 percent from 1984 to 2002, according to the study findings.

Recent data from community-based studies have presented conflicting views on the rate of heart failure diagnoses in the U.S. , although the data from these studies indicate that survival rates have been increasing. The Duke/DCRI research team conducted the study, using Medicare data, to more accurately identify how widespread the condition is, as it directly relates to the economic burdens on the Medicare program.

Researchers found that from 1994 to 2003, new heart failure diagnoses decreased from 32 to 29 per 1,000 person-years. A person-year is the sum of the number of years that each person within a given population has lived with a certain condition, such as heart failure.

There was a bigger decrease in the number of new diagnoses among people between 80 and 84 years old, with the research team noting a decrease from 57 to 48 per 1,000 person-years. However, during this time, the number of people living with heart failure increased significantly from 140,000 to 200,000, with more elderly men than women living with the condition.

“The proportion of [Medicare] beneficiaries with a heart failure diagnosis increased from 90 per 1,000 in 1994 to 120 per 1,000 in 2000, and remained at about 120 per 1,000 through 2003,” the authors wrote.

Because there are now more people living with heart failure, researchers note that it is vital to identify the best strategies for treating and managing heart failure, as that population will continue to grow.

DCRI researchers include Lesley H. Curtis, PhD; David J. Whellan, MD, MHS; Bradley G. Hammill, MS; Adrian F. Hernandez, MD, MHS; Kevin J. Anstrom, PhD; Alisa M. Shea, MPH and Kevin A. Schulman, MD.