title: A network against failing hearts--introducing the German "Competence Network Heart Failure".
abstract: Heart failure (HF) has been identified as one of the most threatening diseases for the western civilisation, posing a risk to health for a rising number of patients. Acknowledging the medical problem of HF to be both economically and socially threatening the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) initiated a nationwide research network aiming to find new ways in prevention, alleviation and treatment of the widespread disease. The "Competence Network Heart Failure" (CNHF), initiated in 2003, bundles the scientific expertise in a large-scale research network; its aims are the coordination of basic and applied clinical research as well as dissemination of findings into clinical practice in order to consolidate and perpetuate the achieved improvements. The scope of this paper is to introduce the CNHF and to provide an overview of the tasks and hitherto attained achievements to a broad spectrum of health care providers.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mehrhof
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Löffler
authors.forename: Götz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gelbrich
authors.forename: Cemil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ozcelik
authors.forename: Maximilian
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authors.lastname: Posch
authors.forename: Hans-Werner
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Hense
authors.forename: Ulrich
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authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Thomas
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authors.lastname: Scheffold
authors.forename: Heribert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schunkert
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Angermann
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ertl
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahns
authors.forename: Burkert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pieske
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wachter
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Edelmann
authors.forename: Kai C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wollert
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maisch
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pankuweit
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erbel
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Katus
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller-Tasch
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zugck
authors.forename: Hans-Dirk
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Düngen
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Regitz-Zagrosek
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehmkuhl
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Störk
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Siebert
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wasem
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Göhler
authors.forename: Stefan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Anker
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Möckel
authors.forename: Karl-Josef
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Osterziel
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rauchhaus
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans