How Long Can A Person Live With Congestive Heart Failure
The life expectancy of congestive heart failure patient has not undergone much of the advancements in recent years. The treatment procedures are known to undergo a lot of improvements. However, the life expectancy of the disease remains almost the same. Patients with initial stages of the disease are known to live on an average of five years while patients suffering from the later stages of the disease are reported to live not more than a year or so. Thus early diagnosis along with early treatment is equally important.
Live With Congestive Heart Failure
If you are among the nearly six million US citizens living with the CHF, and you have known the congestive heart failure life expectancy, you should also know about the various measures you can take that will help you control the symptoms, including shortness of breath, fatigue, and peripheral edema, among others. These measures can do a great deal when it comes to reducing your chances of ending up hospitalized for the disease.
1. Take Your Prescriptions
There are many drugs that directly treat heart failure and you should consider taking them as prescribed for as long as your doctor recommends you take them. This will prolong the congestive heart life expectancy rate dramatically. Some drugs take fluid off the body, others thin the blood, others decrease blood pressure, and others contain potassium as a supplement. Many people with CHF are also taking aspirin to prevent a heart attack. See if your doctor can prescribe medications that are only taken once daily because this will be easier for you to remember and you will have a better chance of taking them as directed.
2. Reduce Sodium Intake
3. Don’t Smoke or Drink Alcohol
Tobacco smoke is high in toxins,which include carbon monoxide that can block the ability of the heart to pump oxygen through the body. In addition, alcohol can weaken the heart, lowering the congestive heart failure life expectancy rates. Excessive alcohol consumption can also result in CHF and worsening of the condition.
4. Get Daily Weights
Heart Failure: Prognosis And Life Expectancy
If you have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, you may have many questions, such as can heart failure be treated, what are the stages of heart failure, and what is the prognosis? The term heart failure can be misleading because when we hear the word failure, we tend to think that something stops working altogether. This isnt the case with heart failure. A diagnosis of heart failure means your heart isnt pumping blood as well as it should be. However, it is a chronic progressive condition that has no cure.
Heart failure is very common, affecting almost 6 million people in the United States. It can occur at any age, even in children, although it tends to affect older people than any other group. There is no cure for heart failure, but treatments can help prolong life and quality of life. Learn more about heart failure survival rates, and what you might do to help improve your odds of living with congestive heart failure.
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How Is Heart Failure Treated
Your treatment will depend on the type of heart failure you have and, in part, what caused it. Medications and lifestyle behaviors are part of every treatment plan. Your healthcare provider will talk to you about the best treatment plan for you. Treatment is the same, regardless of gender.
As heart failure gets worse, your heart muscle pumps less blood to your organs, and you move toward the next stage of heart failure. Since you cant move backward through the heart failure stages, the goal of treatment is to keep you from moving forward through the stages or to slow down the progression of your heart failure.
Stage A treatment
The usual treatment plan for people with Stage A heart failure includes:
- Regular exercise, being active, walking every day.
- Stopping the use of tobacco products.
- Treatment for high blood pressure .
- Treatment for high cholesterol.
- Not drinking alcohol or using recreational drugs.
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin II receptor blocker if you have coronary artery disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or other vascular or cardiac conditions.
- Beta-blocker if you have high blood pressure.
Stage B treatment
The usual treatment plan for people with Stage B heart failure includes:
Stage C treatment
The usual treatment plan for people with Stage C HF-rEF includes:
If the treatment causes your symptoms to get better or stop, you still need to continue treatment to slow the progression to Stage D.
Stage D treatment
How Long Will I Live With Heart Failure
The congestive heart failure lifespan depends on many variables, such as the cause of heart failure, its severity, and other comorbidities.The survival rates for those affected in the general population are:
- 1-year: 81.3%
- 5-years: 51.5% and
- 10-years: 29.5%.
There are 6 million people alive in the US that suffer from this disease, and almost 1 million in the UK. The data shown above tells us that only a half of these people will survive the next 5 years.
A heart transplant, being the ultimate treatment for such a disease, prolongs the estimated survival. 20 years after a transplant, around 21% of patients are still alive.
There’s a special tool for assessing the mortality rate of heart failure patients admitted to the ICU.
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Congestive Heart Failure And Eecp: The Natural Bypass
EECP or Enhanced External Counter Pulsation is emerging as an alternative to conventional bypass surgery. Here, the patient lies down, while blood-pressure like cuffs are fixed to the thighs and calf muscles.
When the heart rests between beats, the pressure cuffs inflate in sync, pushing blood back to the heart, creating fine collateral arteries to open up. The end result, usually after 35 sessions is that your heart suddenly has new arteries supplying fresh blood to it.
It is covered by insurance in several states in the U.S. and eecp.com can help you locate a therapy center near you and also determine if you are a fit candidate to receive the therapy. Even if you had to pay the $5,000 dollars out of pocket, says Dr. Cowan, in his book, it is certainly far safer than having your chest cracked open.
Troponin And Chronic Heart Failure
The role of myocyte injury in prognosis of stable outpatients with heart failure was evaluated by Hudson and colleagues.141 The authors assessed the association of elevated cardiac troponin T levels with the severity, cause, and prognosis of heart failure in 136 stable, ambulatory patients. Patients with elevated cTnT levels had an increased risk of death from or hospitalization for heart failure and of death alone at 14 months.141 In a larger outpatient data set from the Val-HeFT study, Latini and associates142 measured levels of cTnT and high-sensitive troponin T in 4053 patients with chronic stable heart failure. Levels of cTnT were detectable in 10.4% of the population with the cTnT assay , in comparison with levels of htTNT in 92.0% with the new hsTnT assay . Patients in whom cTnT level was elevated or in whom hsTnT level was above the median had more severe heart failure and worse prognoses.142 Increased concentration of cTnT was associated with an increased risk of death and increased risk of first hospitalization for heart failure in multivariable models. For each 0.01-ng/mL increase in hsTnT level, risk of death increased 5% .142
Blase A. Carabello, in, 2011
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Request A Hospice Evaluation
The primary physician may recommend hospice when the time is right. But as anyone who has faced a serious illness knows, patients and family members often must act as their own advocates to receive the care they need and deserve.
You, your loved one or your trusted physician may request an evaluation to see if hospice is an appropriate option for care.
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How Palliative And Hospice Care Can Help With End
Both palliative and hospice care focus on the whole person, including their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. The main difference is that palliative care can be given at any time during a serious illness, and hospice care is given near the end of life typically when a persons prognosis is six months or less.
Palliative and hospice care can also provide help with making difficult treatment decisions, such as whether to be resuscitated if the persons heart stops, or whether to have a tube placed in their throat to help them breathe.
Similarly, people with end-stage heart failure may need to decide when to disable certain medical devices implanted in their body:
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillator . Patients can have the shock function turned off, or not replace the battery when the current one runs out. Electrical shocks from ICDs can cause unnecessary distress for patients and loved ones at the end of life.
- Left ventricular assist device . Typically, the patient decides when this heart pump will be shut off before it is implanted. The decision can be discussed again as the end of life nears.
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Stages Of Heart Failure
According to statistics, every year about 550,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with heart failure. Some cardiologists describe heart failure by stages. They indicate the risk and/or severity of the condition:
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A: No signs of structural damage to the heart or symptoms or heart failure, but you are at high risk of developing heart failure.
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B: No signs or symptoms of heart failure, but tissue damage can be seen with imaging tests, such as .
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C: Symptoms of heart failure and damage to the heart.
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D: Serious signs and symptoms of heart failure.
Other doctors use a classification system called the New York Heart Association classification, or functional classification:
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1: You have but dont have any symptoms and you dont have to limit everyday physical activity.
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2: You have mild symptoms of heart disease that may slightly limit your regular physical activities.
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3: You experience enough symptoms to significantly limit your ability to be active. You only feel comfortable when you are resting.
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4: You have severe symptoms and limitations. You even have symptoms while resting.
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What Does Science Say About Cbd For Congestive Heart Failure In Dogs
Collectively, the current findings present evidence for CBDs alleviation of cardiovascular anomalies and the diminution of myocardial oxidative stresstwo factors directly related to symptoms of canine Coronary Heart Failure. Similar studies show that CBD induces a substantial cardioprotective effect from ischemia.
Cannabidiol may represent a promising novel treatment for CHF in dogs by protecting the heart and other organs from oxidative damage due to myocardial ischemia. Accumulating evidence also suggests that CBD is beneficial in the cardiovascular system by its direct actions on isolated arteries, causing both acute and time-dependent vasorelaxation .
Additionally, pre-clinical data appear to support a positive role for CBD treatment in the heart as well as in the peripheral and cerebral vasculature.
At its core, cannabinoid based therapy can minimize symptoms related to Congestive Heart Failure to make your dog feel better & more comfortable, reduce unexpected peripheral vascular problems that arise, and offer a better safety-profile and eliminate the potential long-term side-effects from prescription medications-thereby achieving the three objectives of effective natural, holistic pet care for canine CHF.
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How Long Can A 90 Year Old Live With Congestive Heart Failure
Although there have been recent improvements in congestive heart failure treatment, researchers say the prognosis for people with the disease is still bleak, with about 50% having an average life expectancy of less than five years . For those with advanced forms of heart failure , nearly 90 % die within one year .
Diagnosing Congestive Heart Failure
The first step is to take some blood tests to look for chemical changes, as well as some chest x-rays to see the condition of the heart and lungs. An electrocardiogram can also help doctors see the heart rhythm, while an echocardiogram looks at the shape and output of the hearts. Stress tests on a treadmill are another option, sometimes with a mask to measure breathing rates and output. Others may use CT and MRI imaging tools where applicable.
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Heart Failure Survival Rates
The survival rates from heart failure have been improving over the years. The improvement is slow, but gradual. Clinicians measure overall patient survival from a disease by comparing large groups of people with the disease to large groups of the same age range without it. For example, a 1-year survival rate of 90% is good. It means people with the disease are 90% as likely as people without the disease to be alive for at least one year after diagnosis. For heart failure, the 1-year survival rate rose from 74% in 2000 to about 81% in 2016. The 5-year survival rate increased from 41% to 48%, and the 10-year survival rate rose from about 20% to 26%.
Keep in mind prognosis and life expectancy information is based on data registries from several years ago . Someone diagnosed with heart failure today may have a better prognosis because heart failure treatment, including heart transplant, improves with time.
If you or a loved one has heart failure and you would like to know more about your case, ask your doctor how your age, overall health, and treatment affect your prognosis and life expectancy. Knowing what to expect can help you make plans for the time you have.
Age And Gender And Life Expectancy Of People With Heart Failure
Just as the stage, age and gender also play a key role in the estimation of life expectancy of a heart failure patient. The younger you are, the more you will live with your congestive heart failure condition. Older people with this problem will live shorter than younger people, even if the stage of heart failure is the same. On the other hand, women have more life expectancy than men. A combined study of how age and gender matter in case of life expectancy of heart failure patients has shown men with congestive heart failure in their 80s have lived for about 2.9 years on an average while women with congestive heart failure in their 50s have lived for about 20 years.
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How Long Can You Live With A Heart Failure
Heart failure is often mistaken as the end of life. Though the term sounds very alarming, it is just an indication of an urgent situation that tends to show that the heart is not working as well as it should be. It also indicates that if proper measures are not taken in order to slow down the condition or prevent the condition from worsening further, it might take a toll on your life.
Prognosis At Different Ages
In general, younger people diagnosed with CHF tend to have a better outlook than older people.
A report averaging several smaller studies found that people under age 65 generally had a 5-year survival rate of 78.8 percent following CHF diagnosis. The same report found that people over age 75 had an average 5-year survival rate of 49.5 percent following diagnosis.
Older people diagnosed with CHF may already have other chronic health conditions. This can make it difficult to manage CHF and create a more challenging outlook for them.
for congestive heart failure. The treatment thats best for you will depend on:
- your overall health
- any other health conditions you have
- how you respond to any medications
- what stage of CHF you have
Common options include:
There are lifestyle changes a person with CHF can make that have been shown to help slow the conditions progression. Talk with your doctor before making changes to your diet or starting an exercise routine.
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How Long Can You Live With Severe Congestive Heart Failure
The life expectancy for congestive heart failure depends on the cause of heart failure, its severity, and other underlying medical conditions. In general, about half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive five years. About 30% will survive for 10 years.
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Living With Heart Failure
There are five things patients diagnosed with heart failure need to do every day at home to manage their heart failure. The following MAWDS acronym may help you remember and follow these basic steps:
- Medications: Take your medications as prescribed by your doctor and heart care team, let them know if you dont tolerate your medications and dont run out of them.
- Activity: Stay active every day, do what you can to keep your body strong.
- Weight: Weigh yourself each day, recognize when changes in your weight mean you are retaining more fluid.
- Diet: Follow your die, that means low salt and limit fluid intake .
- Symptoms: Recognize your symptoms and know when to call for help.
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Future Prevalence Of Congestive Heart Failure: Predicted To Nearly Double In Coming Decades
Findings from the model show that among 65 to 70 year olds, the prevalence of CHF will almost double in the coming decades, from 4.3 percent in 2010 to 8.5 percent in 2030. The authors note these new estimates are somewhat higher than previous estimates because the model not only incorporates known demographic trends but also the effects of trends in underlying risk factors, such as obesity, which are also increasing.
This has significant implications for the healthcare system, given the impact heart failure has on costs and quality of life.