It now affects 1 in 50 Australians, heart failure is becoming more common and is expected to increase as more people survive heart attacks, live longer and suffer from heart problems leading to this potentially debilitating and long-term disease. term, warns hearts4heart charity.
Clinicians, patients, caregivers and politicians join the charity to urge Australians to be smart with their hearts as they kick off Australia’s inaugural Heart Failure Awareness Week (June 27 to 3 July).
“Unfortunately, dangerously low levels of awareness about heart failure are leaving Australians vulnerable,” said hearts4heart CEO Tanya Hall, who lost her father to heart failure when she was just 59 years old.
“To help heart failure patients feel better and live longer, healthier lives, GPs need to recognize the symptoms of heart failure and know the appropriate clinical pathway for diagnosis,” Hall said.
Cardiologist A / Prof John Amerena said: “Delayed diagnosis and upward trends in Australian heart failure admissions are a cause for concern.
“When left untreated, heart failure progressively worsens, but with early diagnosis, treatment, and lifestyle changes, a person with heart failure can reduce their risk of hospitalization and improve their quality of life.” , said Amerena.
To help identify early heart failure symptoms and provide guidance on the appropriate clinical pathway for diagnosis, hearts4heart’s Medical Advisory Committee has developed a new tool based on the Australian consensus on the Society’s recent guidelines on heart failure. European Society of Cardiologists (ESC).
“Recognition of Heart Failure” can be used to guide GPs in their response to patients with symptoms of heart failure and can be downloaded from the charity website at hearts4heart.org.au.
“As health care providers, we play a critical role in encouraging people 65 and older to be aware of their symptoms and to have their heart checked regularly. Be smart with your heart. Have conversations periodicals on heart health with your patients, talk about possible symptoms, and make sure you understand the proper diagnostic route, ”Amerena said.
At $ 3.1 billion, heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in people over 65, with about 1.1 million days of hospital stay recorded each year, according to hearts4hearts.
Alarmingly, 30% of hospitalized patients with heart failure are readmitted within 60 to 90 days and about 1 in 3 of those admitted will die within a year of being diagnosed.
To reduce preventable hospitalizations, support shared decision-making between patients and physicians, and improve the overall quality of life of heart failure patients and caregivers, hearts4heart also launches the first Charter for Heart Failure Patients and Caregivers. ‘Australia with the support of Parliamentary Friends of Heart and Stroke, doctors, patients and caregivers.
“Through improved education and shared decision-making between doctors, patients and caregivers, we can disrupt the cycle that results in thousands of hospitalizations each year, but it will require a commitment from all Australians,” Hall said. .
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