title: For the improvement of Heart Failure treatment in Portugal - Consensus statement.
abstract: Heart failure is a syndrome with high prevalence, morbidity and mortality, but awareness of the disease is poor among the general public and policy makers. This document, which was prepared by a group of experts consisting of cardiologists, internists and general practitioners, aims to set out in detail the problem of heart failure in Portugal at several levels: burden of the disease, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. To this aim, different aspects of the management of the various stages of the disease are identified and discussed in detail, covering both outpatients and hospitalized patients. In order to optimize the medical care provided to these patients, various short-, medium- and long-term solutions and strategies are put forward that have the potential to improve the integration and use of available resources. The intention is to highlight strategies that are not based on a single model but can be adapted to different regional circumstances, in order to increase awareness and improve management of heart failure in Portugal.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Insuficiência Cardíaca, Serviço de Medicina III e Hospital Dia, Hospital São Francisco Xavier - Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, NOVA Medical School, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: mcandidafonseca@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cândida
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Cardiologia, Hospital de Santa Maria, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Norte. Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Dulce
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.affiliation: Administração Regional de Saúde (ARS) Norte, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cernadas
authors.affiliation: Hospital de Santa Cruz - Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, Serviço de Cardiologia, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universidade de Coimbra - Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Serviço de Cardiologia, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Hospital de Santa Maria - Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Norte, Serviço de Urgência. Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Centro Hospitalar de Leiria, Serviço de Cardiologia, Leiria, Portugal.
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morais
authors.affiliation: Centro Hospitalar de São João, Serviço de Cardiologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silva Cardoso
mesh_terms: D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011174:Portugal; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Consensus document; Documento de consensos; Heart failure; Impacto socioeconómico; Insuficiência cardíaca; Integrated multidisciplinary treatment; Prevalence; Prevalência; Socio‐economic impact; Tratamento multidisciplinar integrado