From Hypertension to Heart Failure [antikvár]

Introduction Heart failure is a serious problem for a number of reasons. First, heart failure is associated with disabling symptoms and severe impairment in the quality of life. Second, heart failure, even if mild, carries a worse prognosis than many cancers. Third, heart failure is common and has a huge economic impact as it is associated with frequent and prolonged hospital admissions. The increasing realization of the importance of heart failure has led to greater efforts to find therapy that will improve well-being and prognosis, of which angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are the outstanding and, at present, possibly unique example. Treatment of heart failure is effective but the morbidity and mortality remain high despite optimal therapy. This has led to the awareness that preventing or delaying the onset of heart failure may be a better way of reducing morbidity and mortality than treating the established syndrome. However, for prevention to be effective, it is necessary to understand the processes by which heart failure evolves. Heart failure is the final common pathway of many different diseases, the most common of which in industrialized nations are ischaemic heart disease and hypertension. These two problems are, of course, themselves interlinked. This book explores the inter-relationship between hypertension, myocardial infarction and heart failure. The importance of hypertension and myocardial infarction, not only as precursors of heart failure, but also as factors influencing the progression of heart failure once it has developed, is highlighted. The inter-relationships between these three conditions are not simple. Despite a decline in age-related mortality from coronary artery disease, the incidence and prevalence of heart failure continues to increase. This suggests that past treatments for coronary disease and hypertension may have modified the way in which patients die but have not had a great impact on total mortality. A thorough and critical review of the effects of treatments for hypertension and myocardial infarction on the progression to heart failure is warranted. We hope that this book will help serve this function.