Prevalence, predictors and prognosis of patients with heart failure requiring nursing care.

Background: Although the need for nursing care (NC) in heart failure (HF) patients is recognized, detailed information on the current status in Japan is lacking. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the CHART-2 Study, we obtained information on daily life, physical ability, nutrition and mental status for 4,174 patients (mean age, 67.1±10.8 years; 73.3% male) out of 10,219 patients. We examined the prevalence, baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of stage B and C/D HF patients requiring NC. The prevalence of HF requiring NC was significantly higher in stage C/D (38.6%) than in stage B (30.4%; P<0.001). Among the reasons for requiring NC, physical dysfunction was most prevalent in both stage B (20.6%) and C/D (29.0%). Compared with the non-NC group, the NC group was characterized by higher age, higher prevalence of female gender and cerebrovascular disease, and increased plasma brain natriuretic peptide regardless of HF stage. During a median follow-up of 12.7 months after the survey, the NC group had a significantly higher mortality compared with the non-NC group (9.6% vs. 3.6%, P<0.001). On multivariate logistic analysis depressive mental status (hazard ratio [HR], 3.61; P<0.001) and dementia (HR, 2.70; P<0.001) were significantly associated with NC need.

Conclusions: In HF patients, NC need is considerably high and is associated with increased mortality regardless of HF stage in Japan.