Congestive Heart Failure Complications

Complications

At least 20% of hospitalizations in older adults are due to heart failure. For people over age 65, it is the number one cause of death, with nearly 290,000 people dying from this disease each year. Nevertheless, although heart failure produces very high mortality rates, treatment advances in hypertension, heart surgeries, and heart pacemakers are now improving survival rates in patients with severe heart failure.

Life-Threatening Complications of Heart Failure

The most serious and life-threatening complications of heart failure are:

• Arrhythmias (irregular beatings of the heart)
• Acute pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs)

Conditions Associated with Left-Side Heart Failure

Left-side heart failure tends to be more severe than right-side heart failure, particularly when it is associated with the following conditions:

• Coronary artery disease
• HIV infection
• Amyloidosis (a metabolic disorder than can lead to organ failure)
• Chemotherapy that uses the drug doxorubicin

The outlook is better in patients with left-side heart failure associated with:

• Idiopathic cardiomyopathy (the cause is unknown)
• Heart failure due to childbirth

Other Conditions Associated with Heart Failure Severity

Weight Issues. If patients with heart failure are overweight to begin with, their condition tends to be more severe. Once heart failure develops, however, an important indicator of a worsening condition is the occurrence of cardiac cachexia, which is unintentional rapid weight loss (a loss of at least 7.5% of normal weight within 6 months).

Impaired Kidney Function. Heart failure weakens the heart’s ability to pump blood. This can affect other parts of the body including the kidneys (which in turn can lead to fluid build-up). Decreased kidney function is common in patients with heart failure, both as a complication of heart failure and as a complication of other diseases associated with heart failure (such as diabetes). Studies suggest that in patients with heart failure, impaired kidney function increases the risks for heart complications including hospitalization and death.