Extract
A project of the European Society of Cardiology Heart Academy, the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Association, the Zurich Heart House, and the University of Zurich
Heart failure is the final common pathway of most forms of cardiovascular disease. In its classic form, left ventricular systolic function is impaired [heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF)] due to previous multiple infarctions, chronic atrial fibrillation and/or hypertension, cardiomyopathies, or valvular heart disease. More recently, the importance of diastolic dysfunction as a cause of heart failure [heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)] has been increasingly recognized, but is often difficult to diagnose. The causes of the current epidemiology of heart failure burden are clear: mortality rates after myocardial infarction have decreased dramatically over the last 50 years; patients have an increased life expectancy but at the same time suffer more and more from co-morbidities including hypertension, renal failure, obesity, and diabetes.
