More Seniors Living With Heart Failure Condition

The number of Medicare patients living with heart failure rose from about 140,000 in 1994 to 200,000 in 2003, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “Identifying optimal strategies for the treatment and management of heart failure will become increasingly important as the size of the Medicare population grows,” the authors conclude. The proportion of beneficiaries with a heart failure diagnosis grew from 90 per 1,000 in 1994 to 120 per 1,000 in 2003. Although the mortality rate declined slightly over the period, more than 60% of patients die within five years of diagnosis, the report's authors said.