Unrecognized heart failure is prevalent in elderly patients with stable COPD, highlighting the need for better collaboration among healthcare providers.
Highlights the high prevalence of unrecognized heart failure in elderly COPD patients and calls for multidisciplinary cooperation for better detection and treatment.
Unrecognized heart failure is very common in elderly patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Closer co-operation among general practitioners, pulmonologists, and cardiologists is necessary to improve detection and adequate treatment of heart failure in this large patient population.
Rutten et al. (2005) studied this question. Unrecognized heart failure is prevalent in elderly patients with stable COPD, highlighting the need for better collaboration among healthcare providers.