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Assessment in primary and community care |
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Assessment in primary and community care
Acute Heart Failure (AHF) refers to rapid or gradual onset of symptoms and/or signs of heart failure, severe enough for the patient to seek urgent medical attention.
Commonly leads to an unplanned hospital admission or an emergency department visit.
AHF is a leading cause of hospitalisations in subjects aged >65 years and is associated with high mortality and rehospitalisation rates.
In-hospital mortality ranges from 4% to 10%.
Post-discharge 1-year mortality can be 25-30% with up to more than 45% deaths or readmission rates.
Symptoms
- Worsening shortness of breath or new shortness of breath at rest.
- Reduced exercise tolerance/capacity
- Fatigue
- Increased pillows at night (orthopnoea) or frequent wakening due to cough or breathlessness (PND)
- Confusion
Signs
- Low BP
- Increased Heart Rate
- Increased respiratory rate
- Low oxygen saturations (compare with previous observations if available)
- Increased weight of ≥2kgs in 3 days
- Pulmonary congestion
- Pulmonary oedema
- Pulmonary crepitations
- Elevated JVP
- Peripheral oedema
- Oliguria
Contents:
- Detection
- Diagnosis
- Acute Heart Failure: Diagnosis and management
- Chronic heart failure: Management and treatment
- Discharge and follow-up
- Palliative and psychological care
- Digital support
In this section
- Assessment in primary care
- Investigations in primary care
- Management in primary care
- Assessments in hospital
- Investigations in hospital
- Management in hospital
About this pathway
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(c) British Society for Heart Failure, 2022-
