title: DEFEAT heart failure: assessment and management of heart failure in nursing homes made easy.
abstract: Heart failure (HF) in older adults presents challenges that are different in many ways than those for younger adults. Diagnosis of HF in older adults can be delayed due to attributing early symptoms to normal changes of aging or, in the setting of a normal ejection fraction, failing to appreciate diastolic heart failure. Moreover, treatment of HF in the elderly is often complicated by comorbidities and polypharmacy. The long-term care setting can present even more challenges, yet can be made easy by following a simple mnemonic DEFEAT-HF. After making a clinical Diagnosis and determining the Etiology, Fluid volume must be assessed to achieve euvolemia, and Ejection frAction must be determined to guide Therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-2041, USA. aahmed@uab.edu
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Clare I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Hays
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D010600:Pharmacology
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations