Clinical features of the 220 incident cases of heart failure
| Demographics, history, aetiology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 76 (67 to 83) (range 29 to 95 years) | |
| Sex | 118 (54%) men | |
| 102 (46%) women | ||
| Aetiology | 79 (36%) coronary artery disease | |
| 141 (64%) not fulfilling criteria for coronary artery disease: | ||
| Not known, 75 | ||
| Hypertension, 30 | ||
| Valve disease, 16 | ||
| Atrial fibrillation or flutter, 10 | ||
| Cor pulmonale, 4 | ||
| Alcohol, 4 | ||
| Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 1 | ||
| Restrictive cardiomyopathy, 1 | ||
| NYHA class | 16 class II (7%) | |
| 55 class III (25%) | ||
| 149 class IV (68%) | ||
| Place of assessment | 40 (18%) clinic | |
| 180 (82%) inpatient | ||
| Duration of symptoms | 14 days (1 to 44 days) | |
| Past history of (not mutually exclusive categories): | Angina 57 (26%) | |
| Myocardial infarction 46 (21%) | ||
| Bypass surgery 11 (5%) | ||
| Hypertension 97 (44%) | ||
| Stroke 19 (9%) | ||
| Diabetes 36 (16%) | ||
| Smoking | 55 (27%) never smoked | |
| 101 (49%) ex-smoker | ||
| 49 (24%) current smoker | ||
| Physical examination findings | ||
| Systolic BP (mm Hg) | 140 (120 to 170) | |
| Diastolic BP (mm Hg) | 82 (70 to 100) | |
| Heart rate (beats/min) | 100 (90 to 120) | |
| Height of jugular venous pressure (cm) | 6 (4 to 8) | |
| Lung crackles | 41 (19%) none | |
| 89 (41%) base only | ||
| 89 (41%) beyond base | ||
| Respiratory rate (breaths/minute) | 24 (20 to 28) | |
| Degree of oedema | 110 (51%) none | |
| 38 (18%) ankle only | ||
| 49 (23%) calf | ||
| 19 (9%) thigh | ||
| Electrocardiographic features | ||
| Cardiac rhythm | 138 (63%) sinus rhythm | |
| 68 (31%) atrial fibrillation | ||
| 14 (6%) other | ||
| Pathological Q waves | 53 (24%) | |
| Chest radiographic features | ||
| Cardiothoracic ratio | 59 (56 to 63) (74 patients; radiograph in P-A projection) | |
| 64 (58 to 67) (101 patients; radiograph in A-P projection) | ||
| Raised pulmonary venous pressure: | 2 (1%) no abnormality | |
| 30 (14%) upper lobe venous blood diversion | ||
| 16 (7%) Kerley-B lines | ||
| 66 (31%) interstitial shadowing | ||
| 101 (47%) alveolar oedema | ||
| Blood tests | ||
| Sodium (mmol/l) | 137 (134 to 139) | |
| Urea (mmol/l) | 8 (6 to 11) | |
| Creatinine (μmol/l) | 112 (92 to 143) | |
| Echocardiographic features | ||
| Overall LV systolic function (qualitative assessment) | 37 (19%) normal | |
| 67 (34%) mild or moderately impaired | ||
| 95 (48%) severely impaired | ||
| LV end diastolic diameter (cm) | 5.4 (4.8 to 6.2) | |
| LV end systolic diameter (cm) | 4.4 (3.8 to 5.1) | |
| Fractional shortening (%) | 19 (13 to 28) | |
For continuous variables the numbers refer to median (interquartile range); for categorical variables the numbers refer to the number of cases (and percentage of the total cases for which the value of this variable is known).
BP, blood pressure; LV, left ventricular; NYHA, New York Heart Association; A-P, anterioposterior; P-A, posterioanterior.