February 10, 2021Open Access
National Trends in Heart Failure Hospitalizations and Readmissions From 2010 to 2017
Key Result
Primary heart failure hospitalization rates increased from 4.2 per 1000 US adults in 2014 to 4.9 in 2017 after a decline from 4.4 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2013.
Study Design
Type
Cohort (n=8,273,270)
Structured PICO
P
Population
8,273,270 primary heart failure hospitalizations in 5,092,626 unique adult patients (≥17 years) in the United States from 2010 to 2017. Mean age 72.1 years, 48.9% women.
O
Outcome
Unique and overall hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of HF and postdischarge readmissionshard clinical
National rates of primary heart failure hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions in the US declined from 2010 to 2014 but subsequently increased through 2017.
Main Result
Absolute Event Rate: 4.9% vs 4.4%
Limitations
- The database does not identify unique patients across different years.
- Clinical data such as ejection fraction are not available.
- Does not include patient’s race or ethnicity.
- Not all hospitalizations and readmissions are included in the database.
Abstract
In this analysis of a nationally representative administrative data set, for primary HF admissions, crude rates of overall and unique patient hospitalizations declined from 2010 to 2014 followed by an increase from 2014 to 2017. Additionally, readmission visits after index HF hospitalizations followed a similar trend. Future studies are needed to verify these findings to improve policies for HF management.