| Heart failure has placed a large burden on the US emotionally, physically and economically. Annually, over 550,000 people in the US are diagnosed with heart failure and over 5 million live with heart failure. The prevalence of the disease is expected to reach 10 million by 2007 24,25 and it will be the leading cause of death across the globe by 2020. The lifetime risk for the development of HF is up to 20% and the incidence of congestive heart failure increases sharply with age. Congestive heart failure also places a large economic burden on the US healthcare system. In fact, HF accounts for 60% of total health care costs annually. Each year there are more than 900,000 hospitalizations with congestive heart failure as the primary diagnosis and treating this population is estimated to cost between {dollar}10 and {dollar}40 billion annually, including direct costs of at least {dollar}19.4 billion USD and other expenses such as lost productivity estimated at over {dollar}2 billion. The burden of congestive heart failure is expected to intensify as the boomer generation ages. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
