Synonyms in a broader sense
Medical: cardiac insufficiency cardiac muscle weakness, pumping weakness of the heart, right heart weakness, left heart weakness English:
Definition
Heart failure, also known as cardiac insufficiency, represents the inability of the heart to supply the organs of the body with sufficient oxygen. Depending on the cause, a distinction is made between systolic and diastolic heart failure as well as some special forms of heart failure (e.g. “High Output Failure”), see section “Causes”. Anatomically, the insufficient performance of the entire heart (“global heart failure”) can also be distinguished from the predominant reduction in performance of one of the two chambers of the heart (“right heart failure” and “left heart failure”).
Frequency (Epidemiology)
Occurrence of heart failure in the population. The proportion of patients with heart failure (medical: prevalence) is highest in the older population group: In the age group from 66 to 75 years, an estimated 4-5% suffer from cardiac insufficiency/heart failure, while the proportion in the 25 to 35-year-old age group is approximately 1%. In total, it is estimated that about 1.2 million people in Germany are affected.
Newly diagnosed (medically: incidence) mostly older people suffer from heart failure/heart failure, i.e. younger people are less frequently affected. Due to the changing age structure of our society, the frequency of people suffering from heart failure has increased dramatically over the last 20 years. Men fall ill more than twice as often as women.
The severity of heart failure/heart failure is divided into four stages, which are referred to as NYHA 1-4 after the classification by the New York Heart Association (NYHA). This classification is based on the occurrence of symptoms and the physical capacity of the patient:While in NYHA 1, for example, physical capacity is not (yet) restricted and changes in comparison to the healthy person can only be detected under stress with extensive technical diagnostics, NYHA 3 is characterized by a severe restriction of physical capacity in the absence of symptoms at rest. In the case of heart failure/heart failure in stage NYHA 4, the affected patients are bedridden and severely restricted both under stress and at rest.
Stages NYHA 3 and 4 of heart failure represent a very serious disease that not only significantly reduces quality of life, but also has a life expectancy that is comparable to that of cancer. The most common causes of heart failure-heart failure are However, there are also a number of other possible causes, which may be primarily cardiac in origin, as well as a preceding inflammation of the heart muscle, usually caused by viruses (medical term: myocarditis). However, completely different diseases can also be the trigger: they can lead to a clinical picture collectively referred to as “metabolic-toxic cardiomyopathy” (from Latin cardiomyopathy = suffering of the heart muscle).
In addition, tumors of the adrenal medulla (called pheochromocytoma) as well as hyper- or hypofunction of the thyroid gland can contribute to the development of an “endocrine cardiomyopathy“, which promotes heart failure. In contrast to the classical forms, the special form of heart failure called “high output failure” does not involve a reduction in cardiac output, but rather an increased oxygen demand that cannot be met by the heart. This is the case, for example, in severe anaemia, when there is not enough blood available to transport oxygen and the heart tries to compensate for this by increasing its pumping capacity. Another cause of a “high output failure” is hyperthyroidism, in which the increased metabolic performance leads to an increased oxygen demand of the organs.
- Elevated blood pressure (arterial hyperony)
- As well as atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries, known as coronary heart disease, or CHD for short.
- Drugs or metabolites/toxins damage the heart when taking cytostatic drugs (tumor drugs)
- Excessive consumption of alcohol or cocaine
- Diabetes mellitus (diabetes)
- Or renal insufficiency (kidney failure)
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