New tool for mortality risk in heart failure

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Researchers have developed a bedside tool that will help doctors assess the mortality risk in patients with heart failure.
Various factors have an impact on the outcome in heart failure. Doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles, have now put these into a new evaluation tool which can help doctors pinpoint those who are most at risk.

They used data from over 100,000 patients with heart failure. Of 39 possible risk factors, having a high blood urea nitrogen level and a low systolic blood pressure and high serum creatinine levels, were the best predictors of mortality. Combining these into a bedside tool is a quick and easy way for the doctor to see who is most in need of intensive treatment. The blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels indicate problems with kidney functioning which shows how important this aspect of heart failure is in determining the outcome. In this study, the overall mortality risk for those hospitalized with heart failure was 4.1 per cent. The tool can assess mortality risks varying from 2.1 per cent to 21.9 per cent.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 2nd February 2005