A silent but rapidly rising tide of heart failure cases that's turning into an epidemic, one that the American Heart Association says we need to prioritize with primary prevention efforts. According to a recent statement published in "Circulation," a heap of evidence points to effective ways to predict heart failure risk—and strategies we can deploy to keep it at bay. And the need to do so couldn’t be starker, more than 6.7 million adults in the U.S. are grappling with heart failure, a number that's projected to shoot past 11 million by 2050.
However, the worrying aspect of the epidemic is not just its prevalence. Heart failure is now the number one reason older adults—those 65 and up—end up in the hospital, and younger folks aren’t immune either, with increasing incidences in their demographic as well. During the past decade, mortality rates haven't been chilling either, with a jump by 15% from 2018 to 2021. Yet, the AHA emphasizes that, even when someone’s teetering on the edge of heart failure or when their risk is sky-high, it’s possible to prevent or delay the condition with the right treatments.
One of the tools in the arsenal is the PREVENT (Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENT) risk calculator, recommended in the AHA's statement for forecasting heart failure risk. There are also non-traditional risk factors to keep an eye on, such as chronic inflammation, harmful exposures, dicey pregnancy outcomes, metabolic gremlins like MASLD, and genetic predispositions. As Richard Becker, MD, pointed out in a MedCentral article, clinicians need to be watchful of frequently overlooked comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). "Even a mildly reduced GFR can portend an increased risk," he stressed, nudging the need to focus on CKD as a "key target for heart failure prevention." According to the University of Cincinnati News.
Hypertension exacerbates the situation further, and it may set in during a person’s salad days but often gets missed by the radar. When it comes to prevention, the clock starts ticking early, and the AHA's call to arms is clear: know the risks, use the tools, and don't let the simple stuff slip through because early intervention might keep hearts beating stronger for longer. With heart failure swiftly becoming a burden too weighty for our healthcare system to carry, this kind of foresight might be the difference between managing and preventing a crisis. Evidence and expert opinion paint a clear picture—and it's time we pay attention.
