Congestive heart failure prognosis depends on many factors like treatment, comorbidities, physical effort, diet or life style. Different types of medication can be used in order to slow the evolution, improve quality of life and congestive heart failure prognosis. Some of them can improve heart failure, but if they are used in a wrong moment they can worsen symptoms (beta-blockers can increase patient’s tolerance to physical activity and cardiac blood flow, improve cardiac muscle oxygenation, but if they are used in a patient with asymptomatic or advanced heart failure or in acute phases it may worsen symptoms).
How can comorbidities worsen congestive heart failure prognosis?
The following comorbidities worsen congestive heart failure prognosis and quality of life:
- cardiac valves pathology
- Insufficiency-some of the blood amount thrown in the arteries will flow back in the heart chambers, because the cardiac valves fail to close properly, stenosis-the cardiac valves fail to open properly so the heart needs to increase its labor or some of the blood amount will remain into the heart chambers;
- hypertension-the heart labor increases, because it has to push the blood amount with a higher speed and force in order to overcome the high blood pressure from the aorta,
- ischemia- an already weak cardiac muscle has to work with less oxygen, while a heart attack produces the death of a variable cardiac muscle portion, with the worsening of congestive heart failure prognosis,
- arrhythmia-interfere with cardiac filling and emptying, heart may not get enough blood or may not throw an enough blood amount in the circulation,
- infection of heart walls: myocarditis, endocarditis, pericarditis;
- respiratory infection.
- diabetes worsens congestive heart failure prognosis; because it is associated with higher risk for atherosclerosis and dyslipidemia (high levels of lipids in the blood) and there for it increases the risk of heart attack.
An aortic stenosis may produce syncope or chest pain during daily activities, without surgical replacement of the valve this patients have a poor prognosis. This is an example of how a valve pathology can worsen congestive heart failure prognosis and quality of life.
Heart ischemia and hypertension can be controlled with specific medication, but sometimes patients with ischemia may need coronarography (injection of a substance in the coronary arteries, thorough femoral artery puncture, in order to view if there is any obstacle) and stent placing (a device that enlarges the artery lumen and increases blood flow).
How can diet and life style influence congestive heart failure prognosis? A diet reach in fats (animal fats) may worsen congestive heart failure prognosis and quality of life because it determines dyslipidemia, a condition associated with high level of lipids in the blood (which will produce deposits of the lipids in the wall of the arteries). A diet reach in salt will increase the water amount in the organism, increasing heart labor and worsening heart failure. Life style and heart failure- patients that perform exaggerate physical activities or are under a lot of stress will have more frequent and severe symptoms.
The ultimate treatment for congestive heart failure is heart transplant, but unfortunately only a few patients have this opportunity, which makes heart failure an important problem of the future.