Heart Beat

Longer survival, more cases, boost heart failure population

Here's a classic good news, bad news report: People with heart failure are living longer than they were thirty years ago. But combine this with more people surviving heart attacks and the graying of the population, and you can see why we're in the midst of what some are calling an epidemic of heart failure, according to a report in the Feb. 14, 2006, Circulation.

In the 1970s, only about 20% of people lived for five years or more after being diagnosed with heart failure. By the 1990s, that was up to 30%. As of 2006 it's about 50%. This trend parallels dramatic improvements in our understanding of heart failure coupled with earlier diagnosis and better treatments.