Orso Francesco, Fabbri Gianna, Maggioni Aldo Pietro
Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Section of Geriatric Medicine and Cardiology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
ANMCO Research Center, Via La Marmora 34, 50121, Florence, Italy.
Handb Exp Pharmacol. 2017;243:15-33. doi: 10.1007/164_2016_74.
Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem affecting more than 23 million patients worldwide. Incidence and prevalence rates vary significantly according to the source of data, but both increase with advancing age reaching, in the very elderly, prevalence rates that represent a challenge for the organization of medical care systems. Even if evidence-based treatments have improved prognosis in some patients with HF, patients with HF still need to be carefully characterized, described, and treated. Hospitalizations for acute HF are frequent and costly accounting for the vast majority of HF-related costs.
心力衰竭（HF）是一个重大的公共卫生问题，全球有超过2300万患者受其影响。发病率和患病率因数据来源而异，但两者均随年龄增长而上升，在高龄人群中，患病率对医疗保健系统的组织构成挑战。即使循证治疗改善了部分心力衰竭患者的预后，但心力衰竭患者仍需进行细致的特征分析、描述及治疗。急性心力衰竭的住院治疗很常见且费用高昂，占绝大多数与心力衰竭相关的费用。
