Characteristics of Elderly Patients with Heart Failure and Impact on Activities of Daily Living: A Registry Report from Super-Aged Society

Background: To assess the health care burden of elderly patients with heart failure (HF) in an aging Japanese community-based hospital, we investigated the outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation.

Methods and results: We enrolled all patients with HF aged ≥65 years admitted to 3 hospitals in the Niigata Prefecture. We prospectively collected data on their hospital stays and for 2 years postdischarge. The cohort comprised 617 patients (46.5% men; mean age 84.7 years), 76.2% of whom were aged ≥80 years. Among these patients, 15.6% were nursing home residents, 57.7% required long-term care insurance, only 37.6% could walk unaided at the time of admission, and 70.5% required cardiac rehabilitation; age had no significant rehabilitative effect on the degree of improvement in activities of daily living (ADLs). Two years postdischarge, all-cause mortality, and HF rehospitalization were 41.1% and 38.6%, respectively. The ADL score at discharge was an independent prognostic factor for mortality. The incidence of mortality and rehospitalization was lower in elderly patients with preserved ADLs at discharge.

Conclusions: Elderly patients with HF in our super-aged society were mainly octogenarians who required disease management and personalized care support. Although their ADL scores increased with comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation, improved scores at discharge were closely associated with prognosis.