A history of arterial hypertension does not affect mortality in patients hospitalised with congestive heart failure.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the importance of a history of hypertension on long-term mortality in a large cohort of patients hospitalised with congestive heart failure (CHF). DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of 5491 consecutive patients, of whom 24% had a history of hypertension. 60% of the patients had non-systolic CHF, and 57% had ischaemic heart disease. SETTING: 38 primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals in Denmark. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total mortality 5-8 years after inclusion in the registry. RESULTS: Female sex and preserved left ventricular systolic function was more common among patients with a history of hypertension. 72% of the patients died during follow up. A hypertension history did not affect mortality risk (hazard ratio (HR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.92 to 1.07). Correction for differences between the normotensive and hypertensive groups at baseline in a multivariate model did not alter this result (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.17, p = 0.06). The hazard ratio was similar in patients with and without a history of ischaemic heart disease. Hence, a specific effect of hypertension in the group of patients with CHF with ischaemic heart disease, as suggested in earlier studies, could not be confirmed. CONCLUSION: A history of arterial hypertension did not affect mortality in patients hospitalised with CHF.

Survival differences between heart failure in general practices and in hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the survival of patients thought to have heart failure in general practice (GP-HF) with that of patients with heart failure in hospital (hospital-HF), patients with heart disease but without heart failure (non-HF), and a control group without heart disease. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross sectional study from general practice with a prospective follow up from 5.3 to 7.4 years. PARTICIPANTS: 2157 community participants, 1999 of whom lived outside nursing homes, were selected because they were registered with four general practitioners at entry. Study participants were divided into the four groups after a review of general practice case notes, questionnaires, and interviews. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Five year survival and multivariate predictors of all cause mortality. RESULTS: Five year survival was 76% in the control group (n = 571, mean age at entry 74.1 years), 71% in non-HF patients (n = 218, 74.4 years), 61% in GP-HF patients (n = 67, 75.8 years), and 39% in hospital-HF patients (n = 33, 76.7 years). The median survival times were 6.8 years for GP-HF patients and 3.9 years for hospital-HF patients. Significant predictors of mortality in the multivariate Cox model of 1979 patients living outside nursing homes were hospital-HF (hazard ratio (HR) 2.1, p = 0.002), GP-HF (HR 1.7, p = 0.004), non-HF heart disease (HR 1.4, p = 0.03), previous myocardial infarction (HR 1.6, p = 0.04), no response to questionnaire (HR 2.0, p < 0.0001), higher age (for every 10 years, HR 2.4, p < 0.0001), and male sex (HR 2.1, p < 0.0001). Other factors such as atrial fibrillation, hypertension, and diabetes were not significant. CONCLUSION: Heart failure in general practice is associated with a worse survival than that seen in the control group but is better than for patients who have been treated at least once for heart failure in a hospital.