Postdischarge Assessment After a Heart Failure Hospitalization

Heart failure (HF) is the most frequent cause of hospitalization for patients >65 years of age. Mortality during the initial hospitalization ranges from 6% to 7% in Europe to 3% to 4% in the United States, depending on the length of hospital stay. Poor outcomes have universally been shown after discharge, with 60- to 90-day mortality rates of 5% to 15% and hospital readmission rates of 30%. Whereas the prognosis of patients with chronic HF has improved in recent years, there has been no change in the high risk of death or rehospitalization after an HF hospitalization. In addition to the lack of new therapies, incomplete relief from fluid overload, insufficient patient education, lack of implementation of evidence-based therapies, and poor postdischarge follow-up planning are among the main causes of these poor outcomes. A better assessment of the patient at the time of discharge and in the following weeks seems therefore as mandatory. This article outlines the main components of such a program. These include the personnel who should be involved, i.e. HF specialists and cardiologists versus non-specialists, the variables which should be assessed, i.e. those related with congestion and fluid overload, the times when they should be assessed, as the phase at highest risk is immediately after discharge from hospital, and, finally, the aims of such programs. We retain that an improvement of post-discharge follow-up will be able to significantly improve patients’ outcomes with a rate of success comparable, if not greater, to that which can be achieved by new therapies.