title: The incidence and first-year mortality of heart failure in Belgium: a 2-year nationwide prospective registration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to determine the incidence and mortality of heart failure (HF) in Belgium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were prospectively collected during a 2-year period by a nationwide network of sentinel practices. All adult patients for whom, for the first time the diagnosis of HF was clinically suspected were registered. Patients were finally included if the diagnosis of HF was confirmed after 1 month.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The yearly incidence of confirmed HF in the Belgian adult population was estimated to be 194 patients per 100,000 inhabitants (95% CI: 172-218). At diagnosis, the median age of the patients with confirmed HF was 79 years: 82 years for women and 76 years for men (p < 0.0001). For the population aged 55 years or more, the yearly incidence of HF was 502 (95% CI: 444-565) with no significant difference between men and women. At diagnosis, most of the patients were classified as NYHA III (50%), 27% as NYHA IV and 20% as NYHA II. Six months after the initial diagnosis, the mortality was 19% and after 12 months it was 26%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Belgium, yearly 15,643 new patients of HF are diagnosed (95% CI: 13,861-17,590). HF is fatal for more than one quarter of the patients in the first year after the diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Epidemiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium. dirk.devroey@vub.ac.be
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Devroey
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Van Casteren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution