Congestive Heart Failure

The heart is an important muscle in the body: the body depends on the heart muscle to pump oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout the circulatory system. There are four chambers in the heart, which collect the blood from the body and send it back out to the lungs and the other parts of the body. When a heart muscle valve fails, the circulation of the blood is reduced, and this creates big problems for the person (Savarese & Lund, 2017).
In Arizona, there are 223 cardiovascular deaths per 100,000 people that occur annually (United Health Foundation, 2019). Since congestive heart failure is not a seasonal issue but rather a lifestyle issue, these figures are fairly constant from year to year. This is in line with national figures, as there are 5 million people in the US with congestive heart failure (Savarese & Lund, 2017). Congestive heart failure can affect people of all ages, from children and young adults to the middle-aged and the elderly. Breaking these figures down, one finds that 1.4 million people under the age of 60 have congestive heart failure. 2% of the middle-aged population (ages 40 to 59) have congestive heart failure. The largest group experiencing congestive heart failure is the elderly population (ages 60 to 69), and 5% of this population is impacted by this disease (Savarese & Lund, 2017). Congestive heart failure annual incidence is near 10 per 1,000 population in the elderly population. This disease is also is responsible for 11 million physician visits each year, and more hospitalizations than all forms of cancer combined (Savarese & Lund, 2017). Overall, congestive heart failure is responsible for 287,000 deaths each year (Conrad et al., 2018).
The symptoms of congestive heart failure appear this way: As cardiac output decreases, blood pressure drops resulting in dizziness and palpitations. Fluid builds up in tissues, the liver becomes congested; fluid build-up in subcutaneous tissue results in peripheral edema and bowel congestion (causing nausea and decreased appetite). Fluid accumulation in the blood vessels leads to rapid weight gain as blood flow decreases to muscles and other tissues; pulmonary edema manifests in cough, as there is a decrease in lung/blood oxygen exchange; breathing becomes laborious; less oxygen and fewer nutrients are transmitted to the brain (Savarese & Lund, 2017).
Treatments for congestive heart failure vary. There is no cure for this disease, so it is basically a matter of living with it. Depending on how bad it is will also figure in to how the person is treated. The more advanced the problem is, the harder it is to treat effectively.
Care treatments can include any of the following:
· Life-long treatment that focuses on improving the person’s quality of life through stabilizing measures.
· Helping the patient to make lifestyle modifications, which means avoiding certain foods and watching one’s body more closely for signs of distress
· Medication can help the body to regulate blood flow
· Surgery (such as the implantation of a mechanical device) is another option for some people
· Inotropic therapy is another option. It involves using an IV to put medicine in the body that will help the heart to regulate blood flow
· Ventricular assist devices can be used in end-of-life cases to help the heart pump blood.
· Another option is to have a heart transplant, but this is a major operation and requires a heart donor. It is not the most common form of treatment for congestive heart failure.
Typically, treatment focuses on managing symptoms and reversing or preventing further damage if possible (Savarese & Lund, 2017).
Another way to treat this disease is to use preventive care, which means educating people about health behaviors that put one at risk for congestive heart failure. Increasing health literacy about how to reduce risk through improving one’s diet and exercising is a good way to prevent this disease. People also need to be educated about what the signs of congestive heart failure look like.
Once the signs of congestive heart failure are understood, people need to know how to respond to these signs. They have to be taught how to maintain control over the situation instead of permitting the situation to control them. Prevention is actually 99% of the solution.
Self-care is also an option. The first step in self-care is knowing the symptoms and being on the lookout for signs of distress. Once diagnosed with congestive heart failure one can engage in self-care by following the guidelines provided by one’s health care provider. One should limit salt and fluids, monitor one’s weight, and adjust one’s lifestyle to better prevent further damage to the heart. Medication is commonly used to treat congestive heart failure and can include a range of drugs, from angiotensin converting enzymes inhibitors such as Captopril to angiotensin receptor blockers like Valsartan; beta blockers and diuretics may be used along with other drugs (Conrad et al., 2018; Savarese & Lund, 2017).
References
Conrad, N., Judge, A., Tran, J., Mohseni, H., Hedgecott, D., Crespillo, A. P. & Rahimi, K. (2018). Temporal trends and patterns in heart failure incidence: a population-based study of 4 million individuals. The Lancet, 391(10120), 572-580.
Savarese, G. & Lund, L. H. (2017). Global public health burden of heart failure. Cardiac failure review, 3(1), 7.
United Health Foundation. (2019). Arizona summary. Retrieved from https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/CHD/state/AZ