Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016;12(3):180-5.
doi: 10.2174/1573403x12666160622102802.

Heart Failure Pharmacotherapy and Supports in the Elderly - A Short Review

Sepehr Shakib  1 , Robyn A Clark
Affiliations
Review

Heart Failure Pharmacotherapy and Supports in the Elderly - A Short Review

Sepehr Shakib et al. Curr Cardiol Rev. 2016.

Abstract

Heart failure is predominantly a disease of the elderly with an increasing prevalence with increasing age. Increasing age is also associated with increased multi-morbidity such that elderly heart failure patients typically have five to six comorbidities in addition to heart failure. Elderly patients are also more likely to have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and there are fewer evidence-based treatments with proven efficacy in HFpEF. Hence the management of heart failure in these patients is largely about managing the symptoms of heart failure, along with the other cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities. Any proposed treatments need to be considered for the potential for reduced benefit due to the competing risk of morbidity and mortality from the patient's other conditions. In patients with heart failure, health related quality of life is impacted by both comorbidities and frailty, and frailty is associated with an increased risk of emergency department visits and hospitalisation. Frailty may also be associated with increased adverse reactions to medications. Although newer guidelines have more information on the management of these comorbidities there are still many areas of uncertainty and potential treatment conflicts. Further research is required on the interactions between different comorbidities, their treatments and heart failure and its management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Curtis L.H., Whellan D.J., Hammill B.G., et al. Incidence and prevalence of heart failure in elderly persons, 1994-2003. Arch. Intern. Med. 2008;168(4):418–424. - PubMed
    1. de Giuli F., Khaw K.T., Cowie M.R., Sutton G.C., Ferrari R., Poole-Wilson P.A. Incidence and outcome of persons with a clinical diagnosis of heart failure in a general practice population of 696,884 in the United Kingdom. Eur. J. Heart Fail. 2005;7(3):295–302. - PubMed
    1. Marengoni A., Angleman S., Melis R., et al. Aging with multimorbidity: a systematic review of the literature. Ageing Res. Rev. 2011;10(4):430–439. - PubMed
    1. Krum H., Gilbert R.E. Demographics and concomitant disorders in heart failure. Lancet. 2003;362(9378):147–158. - PubMed
    1. Yancy C.W., Jessup M., Bozkurt B., et al. 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2013;62(16):e147–e239. - PubMed