People diagnosed with heart failure are continuously at risk of the condition progressing to worsening heart failure despite being treated with the current standard of care. In worsening heart failure, symptoms of heart failure progress to a stage when severe complications arise, and the patients require immediate hospitalization, or their treatment needs to be escalated. Affected patients often enter a downward spiral of repeated hospitalizations and face the threat of increased mortality. Global data shows that despite receiving the standard of care, 1 in 6patients progresses to worsening heart failure within 18 months of initial diagnosis of heart failure.
The current American and European heart failure guidelines have recognized worsening heart failure patients as a distinct segment. These guidelines recommend that such patients should be considered for additional therapy along with standard therapy for heart failure to reduce the risk of cardiovascular deaths and hospitalization.
Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Interventional Cardiologist at Eternal Hospital (EHCC) said, “Heart failure is a cause of concern in the country as the cases are on the rise. In Jaipur, more heart failure patients are now better managed than before because doctors use guideline directed medical therapy. New treatments are emerging for heart failure which show promise, and which can be included in the guidelines. Clinical trials have demonstrated that these interventions will help in improving heart function and vascular tone which in turn will help to improve cardiac output. Once added to the standard therapy regimen, it will help reduce the mortality and repeated hospitalizations in worsening heart failure patients.”
In India, currently, there are 8-10 million people living with heart failure. The mean age of heart failure patients in India is 50 to 60 years, while it is 60 to 70 years in the West. The number of patients who die during hospitalization is also significantly higher in India; the in-hospital mortality rate ranges between 10–30.8% as compared with 4–7% in the West. The mortality rate post-discharge is 26%.These statistics make it clear that in India too, the differentiation between worsening heart failure and heart failure needs to be made and patients with worsening heart failure need to be treated with emerging therapies.