Characteristics of Acute Heart Failure Hospitalizations Based on Presenting Severity

BACKGROUND: Hospitalizations for acute heart failure (HF) are significant events with downstream implications for patients, as well as healthcare systems and payers. However, from anecdotal experience, both hospitalization and postdischarge courses vary significantly based on severity of presenting decompensation. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared patient and hospitalization characteristics, resource utilization, and associated outcomes, among modern era acute HF patients enrolled in the GWTG-HF (Get With the Guidelines-Heart Failure) registry between 2011 and 2016, by varying severity of their acute HF. Among over 165 000 hospitalizations included in our analysis, 2% were considered high-risk and 32% intermediate-risk for in-hospital mortality, similar to findings from 15 years prior. Further, the 1-year mortality rate was 40% among Medicare beneficiaries in GWTG-HF who survived to hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term outcomes among acute HF survivors remain poor and, in the context of an increasing HF burden, warrant further study of postdischarge management strategies including inpatient-to-clinic transitions and ambulatory HF systems-based care.