Overview of acute decompensated heart failure in Argentina: Lessons learned from 5 registries during the last decade

Background The acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is not as well characterized as the chronic phase, particularly in Latin American countries. Thus, the aim of this overview was to describe the clinical profile, treatment, and inhospital course of ADHF during the last decade in Argentina. Methods Results obtained from 5 Argentinean prospective and multicenter registries, involving 2974 patients admitted for ADHF, were assessed. These registries were performed and published between 1992 and 2004. Results The mean age was 65 to 70 years, and nearly 40% were female. Coronary artery disease was the main etiology in nearly 30% of the patients. Between 1992 and 2004, the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors increased from 29.9% to 53.4% before admission and from 48.5% to 69.3% before discharge; the use of beta-blockers rose from 4.2% to 33.2% at admission and from 2.5% to 42.4% at predischarge (all P<.0001). Inhospital mortality rates in the first to the fifth registries were 12.1%, 4.6%, 10.5%, 8.9%, and 4.7% (P [trend]=.006). However, there were 98 (7.7%) deaths among 1272 patients before 2002, compared with 129 (7.6%) among 1702 since 2002 (P=.9). Conclusions The clinical profile of this largest sample of ADHF reported from a Latin American country is different from that observed in clinical trials and comparable to registries worldwide. Although an improvement in the use of recommended drugs was observed in the last decade, the average mortality has not changed. These findings might have implications in the design of multinational clinical trials.