Science and Health

Heart failure with preserved systolic function affects 100K Aussies

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-03 14:46
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CANBERRA: Heart failure with preserved systolic function (HFPSF) affects an estimated 100,000 Australians and makes up at least half of heart failure cases among the elderly, the Australian Associated Press reports Sunday.

It is a form of heart failure that has been largely ignored, yet it costs the health system millions in hospitalizations and readmissions each year.

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According to a new report, it most commonly strikes elderly women living alone with no support network, meaning the social cost of the disease is that much greater.  

But the condition is not distinguished from general heart failure cases, says the Royal Adelaide Hospital's Sepehr Shakib, one of the report's three co-authors. As such, little is known about it, funding is sparse and there remains no cure.

Dr. Shakib and his colleagues analyzed hospital data from 2,961 patients over the past decade and found HFPSF sufferers were predominantly elderly women.

They generally lived in nursing homes with poor carer support, meaning hospitalizations - and re-hospitalisations - were common.

The fact that older women were most often affected suggested the HFPSF was related to age, Dr. Shakib said. "It's a function of the fact that as we tend to get older, hearts tend to get a bit stiffer. And commonly, it's the women that live longer than men."
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