Cardiology Letters 2024, 33(5):295-304

Management of patients with heart failure. Experience from a single centre

Peter Snopek^{1, 2}, Jozef Hasilla^{1, 2}, Dušan Oravec¹, Milan Klačanský¹, Rastislav Gnyp¹, Jakub Benko^{1, 3}

¹ Kardiologická klinika FN Nitra

² Fakulta sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva, Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa Nitra

³ 1. Interná klinika, Univerzitná nemocnica Martin, Slovenská republika

The work aimed to evaluate the clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic characteristics, and the treatment of patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) at the Cardiology Clinic of University Hospital Nitra in the period from 1.7. until 30.9.2023.

Method: A retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized due to HF at the Cardiology Clinic of University Hospital Nitra from July 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023.

Results: The most frequent cause of hospitalization was a decompensation event of chronic HF (78%). The most common cause of HF was ischemic etiology (less than 40% of patients). In terms of comorbidities, the most common was arterial hypertension (AH) (97.6% of patients hospitalized for HF had AH in the pre-disease). The heart failure phenotype with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) predominated (81 patients). The average EF was 44.67%. The most common valvular disease was severe tricuspid regurgitation in 51 patients (29%), followed by severe mitral regurgitation in 43 patients (24%). The mean entry NTproBNP value was 10,299 pg/ml. In total, RAAS inhibitors were included in the medication of 93% of patients. 92% of patients were treated with BB, 72% with SGLT2 inhibitors, 48% with MRA. ACEIs significantly shortened the time required for i.v. diuretic administration (p=0.008).

Conclusion: From the retrospective analysis of the data of patients hospitalized for HF, patients with an ischemic cause and with a decompensatory HF event dominate. The most frequent comorbidity is AH, the HFpEF phenotype being the most frequent. We have documented a fair representation of basic groups of pharmaceuticals with confirmed prognostic significance.

Keywords: heart failure; laboratory results; echocardiography; treatment

Published: May 1, 2024  Show citation