What is the Definition of Congestive Heart Failure?
Article updated and reviewed by Neil Siecke, MD, Clinical Insturctor, UCSD Division of Cardiology on July 28, 2005. Congestive heart failure (or heart failure) occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood (which provides oxygen) to the muscles, tissues, and other organs of the body. Statistics on Heart Failure • A person aged 40 years or older has a one in five chance of developing heart failure. • About five million Americans have been diagnosed with heart failure. • About 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. • Heart failure is the most common hospital discharge diagnosis with more than one million hospital stays each year. • The costs of treating heart failure in the United States exceed $27 billion. • The risk of heart failure increase with age: 10% of both men and women over 75 have been diagnosed with heart failure. Statistics derived from the American Heart Association, Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics ?
