Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Heart Failure

2009; Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3238/arztebl.2009.0269

1866-0452

Till Neumann, Janine Biermann, Anja Neumann, Jürgen Wasem, Georg Ertl, Rainer Dietz, Raimund Erbel,

Pharmaceutical studies and practices

H eart failure is currently one of the most common and most cost-intensive of the chronic diseases (1).It is responsible for 1% to 2% of direct health costs in the Western industrialized nations, and for around 1.1% in Germany.The combination of demographic developments and medical progress-leading to falling mortality rates from ischemic heart events-mean that the prevalence and incidence of heart failure will continue to increase and lead to a further rise in public health costs (2).In addition to this, the course of this disease is characterized by repeated hospital admissions at relatively short intervals and a limited prognosis for survival (3).Thus, heart failure places a heavy medical and economic burden on society.To investigate this disease more closely, and to add value by cross-linking between research and care, the German Heart Failure Competency Network (Kompetenznetz Herzinsuffizienz) was founded in 2003, funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) (4).The present study analyzes the development of case numbers for heart failure in relation to the period up to 2050.In addition, data from the individual federal states will be used to present information on hospital admissions and deaths and on the use of resources for heart failure in terms of care providers. MethodsThis study is based on the coding I50 "heart failure" in the ICD-10 classification.The analysis is based on data from the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) and the Federal Health Monitoring Information System (GBE, Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes).The analyses relate both to the whole of Germany and to the individual federal states.All data regarding diagnoses and causes of death are given as absolute values and as adjusted for age, in order to allow comparison between different years and different regions.Diagnostic data emanate from the diagnostic statistics of the Federal Statistical Office.These diagnostic statistics were acquired from the hospitals in response to a written survey.Case-related diagnostic statistics are obtained in an annual complete census that records an average of