| Popis: |
Despite advances in detection and therapy heart failure remains a major and growing social problem. The Framingham Heart Study (Lloyd-Jones et al., 2002) demonstrated that one out of five 40 year-old adults will develop heart failure symptoms at some point in their lifetime. In the United States (Lloyd-Jones et al., 2010), there are 5 million heart failure patients in a total population of 294 million and in Europe; there are 10 million heart failure patients in a total population of 666 million (Mosterd A et al.,1999). Health-care expenditure for heart failure typically accounts for 1% to 2% of total health costs, of which hospitalizations constitute 60% to 70% (Berry C et al., 2001; Ryden-Bergsten & Andersson, 1999). |
