ACUTE HEART FAILURE IS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH MORTALITY AND IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO MAJOR ORGANS

WHAT IS AHF?
Acute heart failure (AHF) is a life threatening condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood around the body

Most common cause of hospitalization in patients over 65 years 1,6,7 Patients rushed to the emergency room for urgent treatment 45

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS23

Severe breathlessness 2 Rapid weight gain 3 Fluid build-up in the lungs and around the body
1

of patients do not survive the initial episode 8

34%

DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Every episode results in worsening health and damage to vital organs, such as the heart and kidneys, which decreases the chance of the patient surviving another episode 1,4,7

The condition is often FATAL when patients have one or repeated acute heart failure episodes 1

It felt like I was drowning

AHF episodes happen each year in the US and EU alone 4,14

REFERENCES

~3.5 million

of patients die within 1 year after experiencing an AHF episode 2,913

2030%

1. Zannad F. et al , Heart failure burden and therapy, Europace 2009, 11; v1-v9. 2. Mosterd A, Hoes, A, Clinical epidemiology of heart failure, Heart 2007;93:1137-1146. 3. Irish Heart Foundation. Living well with heart failure patient booklet. http://www.irishheart.ie/media/pub/patient_booklets/living_with_heart_failure.pdf. Accessed August 2013. 4. Gheorghiade M, Pang P, Acute heart failure syndromes, Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2009; 53 (7):557-73. 5. Felker et al . Clinical trial of pharmacological therapies in acute heart failure syndromes, Circ Heart Fail . 2010;3:314-325. 6. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2009 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/factsandfigures/2009/pdfs/FF_2009_exhibit2_4.pdf). 7. Gheorghiade M et al , Rehospitalization for heart failure: problems and perspectives, Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2013, 61(4):391-403. 8. Weintraub et al . Acute heart failure syndromes: emergency department presentation, treatment, and disposition: current approaches and future aims: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation . 2010; 122:1975-1996. 9. Harrisons Principles of Internal Medicine, Seventeenth Edition pages 1442 1455. 10. Hunt S et al . Focused update incorporated into the ACC/AHA 2005 Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Heart Failure in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines Developed in Collaboration With the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Circulation . 2009;119:e391-e479. 11. Lloyd-Jones et al . Heart disease and stroke statistics--2010 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation . 2010;121:e46-215. 12. National heart failure audit: April 2010 March 2011, NICOR and The British Society for Heart Failure, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). 13. OConnor M et al . Causes of death and rehospitalization in patients hospitalized with worsening heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction: Results from efficacy of vasopressin antagonism in heart failure outcome study with tolvaptan (EVEREST) program, American Heart Journal 2010;159(5): 842-849. 14. Novartis data on file, approximately 1.86 million diagnosed events in the US and 1.6 million in the top 5 EU markets.