Usefulness of administrative databases in identifying the predictive factors of repeated hospitalizations for heart failure.

Objectives: to investigate heart failure (HF) hospitalizations, the following one-year follow-up, and any possible connection between rehospitalizations due to HF and patients' characteristics derived from administrative databases.

Design: retrospective longitudinal design.

Setting And Participants: the study was conducted analyzing public hospital records of a district in Abruzzo Region (Central Italy), which counts more than 300,000 inhabitants.