Heart failure in Argentina.

Heart failure is a common and costly clinical entity that implies high morb idity and mortality. The aim of this study was to establish the impact of t he heart failure syndrome in our country. We analyzed: 1) the data-base of vital statistics from the National Program of Health Statistics, Ministry o f Health, between 1980 and 1997, 2) the registers from two national surveys on heart failure patients performed by the Argentine Society of Cardiology and the Argentine Council of Residents in Cardiology. Cardiovascular syndr omes have constituted the first cause of death in our country for the last twenty years. Among these, heart failure represents the most frequent entit y. From 1980 to 1997 a progressive reduction of 31% in the rate of cardiova scular mortality was observed. From 1990 to 1997, a decrease in the mortali ty rate due to heart failure of 22.4% was registered. Age and sex adjusted mortality from heart failure suffered a steady increase in older groups, sp ecially above 65 years of age. Hospital discharge data showed that heart fa ilure and cerebrovascular illness are the highest prevalent entities. Natio nal surveys on heart failure demonstrate a high prevalence of hypertension, as an associated risk factor, and non compliance with the medication and d iet as causes of decompensation. A trend towards an increase in pharmacolog ical prescriptions was also observed.