Heart Failure Survival Improves Since '50s

Study Looks At More Than 10,000 Participants

The risk of dying after developing heart failure has fallen about one-third since the 1950s, according to a study by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The research, published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first population-based evidence that people are living longer with the disease.

"These findings offer good news about a highly lethal disease," said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant. "However, heart failure still affects far too many Americans and more than half of those who develop it die within five years of diagnosis.

Researchers analyzed five decades of data on more than 10,000 participants from the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts. The director of the study, Dr. Daniel Levy, said advances in drugs and treatments probably account for the improvement.

But Levy cautioned that, since the findings are based on one, mostly white study, more research must be done to check trends on the survival and number of new cases in other racial and ethnic groups.

Heart failure occurs when a weakened heart cannot pump blood efficiently through the body. It mostly afflicts the elderly and is thought to be on the rise because of the aging of the population.

About 4.8 million Americans have heart failure, with about 550,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Heart failure contributes to about 287,000 deaths a year.

"Prevention remains the best defense against heart failure," Lenfant said. "Americans can greatly reduce their chances of developing it by taking steps to prevent or control high blood pressure, heart disease, and other conditions that can lead to heart failure."

Additional Resource:

• New England Journal of Medicine

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