Doughty R, Yee T, Sharpe N, MacMahon S
Department of Medicine, University of Auckland School of Medicine.
N Z Med J. 1995 Nov 24;108(1012):473-5.
Congestive heart failure is believed to be a major public health problem in most Western countries; however, little is known about the extent of morbidity and mortality from congestive heart failure in New Zealand. This paper reports data on hospital admissions and mortality due to congestive heart failure in New Zealand during the years 1988-91.
All data were obtained from the New Zealand Health Information Service. Deaths from congestive heart failure were identified from ICD-9 codes indicating a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Hospitalisations for congestive heart failure were identified both from ICD-9 codes indicating a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure and from codes indicating a diagnosis of congestive heart failure secondary to chronic rheumatic heart disease, ischaemic heart disease or valvular heart disease (nonrheumatic).
Each year there was an average of about 850 deaths ascribed to heart failure; two-thirds of these occurred in patients over the age of 75 years. Each year there was also an average of about 8000 hospital admissions of about 5000 patients for congestive heart failure; 75% of these admissions involved patients over 65 years old. The mean duration of hospital stay for congestive heart failure was 16 days. On this basis, it is estimated that hospital admissions for congestive heart failure are likely to cost about NZ$50 million each year, or about 1% of the total health budget.
Congestive heart failure is clearly a major public health problem in New Zealand with high hospitalisation and mortality rates. Several strategies have been proven to reduce mortality and hospital admissions for congestive heart failure and these should be utilised widely in patients at risk.
在大多数西方国家，充血性心力衰竭被认为是一个主要的公共卫生问题；然而，对于新西兰充血性心力衰竭的发病和死亡程度知之甚少。本文报告了1988 - 1991年期间新西兰因充血性心力衰竭住院和死亡的数据。
所有数据均来自新西兰卫生信息服务处。通过国际疾病分类第九版（ICD - 9）编码确定充血性心力衰竭死亡病例，这些编码表明充血性心力衰竭为主要诊断。通过ICD - 9编码确定充血性心力衰竭住院病例，这些编码表明充血性心力衰竭为主要诊断，以及表明继发于慢性风湿性心脏病、缺血性心脏病或瓣膜性心脏病（非风湿性）的充血性心力衰竭诊断的编码。
每年平均约有850例死亡归因于心力衰竭；其中三分之二发生在75岁以上的患者中。每年平均还有约8000例因充血性心力衰竭住院，涉及约5000名患者；其中75%的住院患者年龄超过65岁。充血性心力衰竭的平均住院时间为16天。据此估计，每年因充血性心力衰竭住院的费用可能约为5000万新西兰元，约占卫生总预算的1%。
充血性心力衰竭显然是新西兰一个主要的公共卫生问题，住院率和死亡率都很高。已经证明有几种策略可以降低充血性心力衰竭的死亡率和住院率，这些策略应该在有风险的患者中广泛应用。
