BACKGROUND The biomarker value of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) has been extensively addressed in patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, prognostic performances of miRNAs in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) has received less attention. METHODS A test cohort of 294 patients with acute dyspnea (236 AHF and 58 non-AHF) and 44 patients with stable chronic heart failure (CHF), and...

1885-5857/$ – see front matter 2011 Sociedad Esp doi:10.1016/j.rec.2011.05.008 Heart failure (HF) is a significant and increasing global public health problem. In the United States, hospital admissions for a principal diagnosis of HF increased from 399 000 in 1979 to 1 093 000 in 2003. The diagnosis of HF continues to be associated with poor quality of life, highmorbidity, and highmortality des...

Breathing differs from other vital functions in that it is regulated not only by automatic centres located in the brainstem but also by voluntary signals initiated in the cortex. Dyspnoea is the most prevalent symptom in heart failure and it is experienced in different ways and reported with several qualitative expressions. It seems as though dyspnoea associated with heart failure is different ...

OBJECTIVES These studies conducted analyses to examine patient characteristics and outcomes associated with worsening heart failure (WHF). BACKGROUND WHF during an admission for acute heart failure (AHF) represents treatment failure and is a potential therapeutic target for clinical trials of AHF. METHODS Individual patient data from the PROTECT (Placebo-Controlled Randomized Study of the S...

BACKGROUND Acute heart failure (AHF) in sub-Saharan Africa has not been well characterized. Therefore, we sought to describe the characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of patients admitted with AHF in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS The Sub-Saharan Africa Survey of Heart Failure (THESUS-HF) was a prospective, multicenter, observational survey of patients with AHF admitted to 12 university hospi...

OBJECTIVES To examine whether posturally induced changes in cardiac output differentiate patients presenting with dyspnea to the emergency department (ED) with acute heart failure (AHF) from other causes. METHODS This was an observational study of patients presenting to the ED with dyspnea. Exclusion criteria included ischemic chest pain, electrocardiographic changes diagnostic of acute myoca...

Patients admitted for acute heart failure (AHF) experience high rates of in-hospital and post-discharge morbidity and mortality despite current therapies. Serelaxin is recombinant human relaxin-2, a hormone with vasodilatory and end-organ protective effects believed to play a central role in the cardiovascular and renal adaptations of human pregnancy. In the phase 3 RELAX-AHF trial, serelaxin m...

BACKGROUND Acute heart failure (AHF) is defined as the new onset or recurrence of gradual or rapidly worsening signs and symptoms of heart failure, requiring urgent or emergent therapy. OBJECTIVES This study attempts to assess the association of liver function tests (LFT) and uric acid level with in hospital outcome and echocardiography parameters, in patients with acute decompensated heart f...

H eart failure (HF) is defined as “a complex clinical syn drome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the ventricle to fill with, or eject blood.” HF has an estimated overall prev­ alence of 2.6%. It is becoming more com­ mon in adults older than 65 years, because of increased survival after acute myocar­ dial infarction (AMI) and improve...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between biomarkers of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation and decongestion strategies, worsening renal function, and clinical outcomes. BACKGROUND High-dose diuretic therapy in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) is thought to activate the RAAS; and alternative decongestion strategies, such as ultrafilt...