Clinical-Epidemiological Characterisation of Hospitalised Patients diagnosed with uncompensated heart failure with decreased ejection fraction at the Central Military Hospital, Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Objective: to describe the clinical and biochemical characteristics and treatment of patients with  decompensated heart failure with reduced ejection fraction hospitalized during 2015 at the Hospital Militar Central in Bogotá.

Methods: a descriptive study reviewing the clinical records of patients over the age of 18 who were hospitalized due to decompensated heart failure with reduced ejection fraction during 2015. Clinical, biochemical, echocardiographic and treatment variables were recorded. A univariate analysis was performed reporting percentages for qualitative variables, measures of central tendency for quantitative variables, and medians and first and third quartiles for variables with a non-normal distribution

Results: the medical records of 114 patients were analyzed (average age 74.8 years; 69.3% males). The etiology of the heart failure was hypertension in 66.7% and ischemia in 60.5%. Noncompliance was the main precipitating factor for decompensation. High adherence to management guidelines was seen on discharge, with medications at suboptimal doses and ambulatory titration in 32% of patients; 38% were readmitted at least once during the first 30 days. Altogether, 25.4% required ICU care, with a mortality rate of 18%; there was a 16% mortality rate for early readmissions and 3% for patients with late admissions.

Conclusion: the clinical profile in this study is similar to what is reported in other research. Adherence to management guidelines is adequate, but at suboptimal doses. There is a high percentage of recorded readmissions and hospital mortality