title: The medical and socioeconomic burden of heart failure: A comparative delineation with cancer.
abstract: Cardiovascular disease and cancer represent the two leading causes of death in the Western World. Still, cardiovascular disease causes more deaths and more hospitalizations than cancer. Although mortality rates of both conditions are generally declining, this is not true for heart failure (HF). The prevalence of HF is increasing, although its incidence has been stabilized, mainly because of the population aging. The survival of patients with HF is overall worse than those with cancer. In addition, HF failure is the most common reason for hospitalization in the elderly, while hospitalization for HF is followed by adverse prognosis and represents the main contributor to the huge financial expenditure caused by the syndrome. The outcome of HF patients and thus its medical and socioeconomic burden may be improved by the more efficient in-hospital management of patients, the enhancement of adherence to guideline-recommended therapies, the identification and treatment of comorbid conditions and the introduction of more effective medical therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: dimitrios_farmakis@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farmakis
authors.affiliation: Medical Research & Innovation LP, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stafylas
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Larissa University Hospital, Larissa, Greece.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giamouzis
authors.affiliation: National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maniadakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parissis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D005062:European Union; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000191:economics; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Cancer; Cardiovascular disease; Cost; Epidemiology; Healthcare; Heart failure