Decompensated chagasic heart failure versus non-chagasic heart failure at a tertiary care hospital: Clinical characteristics and outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate clinical and epidemiological characteristics and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure (DHF), with a comparison between Chagas and non-Chagas disease.

Method: This is a retrospective cohort study involving 136 patients consecutively admitted with DHF between January 1 and December 31, 2011, with the following outcomes: acute renal failure, cardiogenic shock, rehospitalization, and hospital death. Individuals aged ≥ 18 years with DHF were included while those with more than 10% of missing data regarding outcomes were excluded.