Diagnostik och behandling av hjärtsvikt i primärvården

: Three eastern Swedish primary care clinics serving a predominantly rural clientele monitored for 13 months all patients under 80 years of age with a diagnosis based on clinical signs alone of heart failure (n = 56) or suspected incipient heart failure (n = 62). Echocardiography was performed on all patients. For 64% of the former group, the putative diagnosis matched echocardiography findings. Results showed a purely diastolic disorder in one-fifth of all 118 patients, and a hemodynamically significant, hitherto unknown heart defect in about as many. Pro-ANF assays correlated poorly with manifest heart failure. Pharmacological treatments were registered, and at 6-month follow-up, 82% of patients with systolic failure were receiving ACE-inhibition.