In a review article published in the journal Nature Reviews Cardiology , the authors provide a detailed overview of the global burden of heart failure, including the incidence and prevalence of heart failure, disease etiology, risk factors, and disease outcomes across geographical regions and populations. Review Article: Global epidemiology of heart failure . Image Credit: Vector_Leart / Shutterstock Heart failure is a multifactorial clinical syndrome caused by structural and functional cardiac abnormalities.
The key symptoms include shortness of breath, ankle swelling, fatigue, and clinical symptoms, such as increased jugular venous pressure, pulmonary crackles, and peripheral edema. Heart failure can be of three types depending on the left ventricular ejection fraction, i.e.
, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Non-modifiable risk factors of heart failure include age, gender, and genetic variants. Medically modifiable risk factors include hypertension, diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation, sleep apnea, poor renal function, pregnancy-related hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Lifestyle-related risk factors of heart failure include smoking and alcohol drinking habits, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, stress, and socioeconomic deprivation. The prevalence of heart failure is gradually increas.
