Incidence of acute heart failure with and without concomitant pulmonary disease

Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) is the primary diagnosis in over one million emergency department (ED) hospitalizations each year in the United States (USA). The patients are often comorbid, with several competing causes for their symptoms, especially pulmonary diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate the incidence and characteristics of patients admitted with AHF with and without concomitant pulmonary disease, compared to patients without AHF, in a large hospital in Denmark. Secondly, to investigate the mortality rate in AHF and how it is influenced by concomitant pulmonary disease. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study at the medical ED at a large university hospital in Denmark in a two-year period during the Corona Virus Disease pandemic. Patient records were screened by trained cardiologists, to identify patients admitted with AHF. The cohort was stratified by AHF status and concomitant pulmonary disease. Results: 1.74 (1.24-2.44), p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: In this prospective observational cohort study, 5-7 % of all admissions to the medical ED was caused by AHF, and was associated with worse outcomes than patients without AHF. Concomitant pulmonary admission disease was associated with a worse prognosis among patients with AHF.