THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Heart failure continues to cause more deaths than cancers, as a substantial number of patients stop taking medicines during the course of treatment, according to a study. The pan-India study of National Heart Failure Registry (NHFR) shows that one in seven patients died in the first 90 days of follow-up. The analysis finds that the outcome improved among those who adhere to follow-up treatment.
Accessible and affordable healthcare and proper follow-up treatment can prevent a majority of the deaths due to heart failure (HF) and improve the longevity by up to 6.5 years, say experts. Heart failure occurs when the heart muscles don’t pump blood as well as they should. It was considered an end-stage disease where two-third patients die in the first five years, according to a heart failure registry prepared by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in 2013.
“One of the major reasons for the poor outcome of heart failure treatment is the high cost of medicines. While newer drugs have become available in the last ten years, these remain unaffordable for many. Often, the patients stop the medicines in the first month itself.
Heart failure requires lifelong treatment. So, it is essential that the government health schemes cover the follow-up treatment to improve the long-term outcome of heart failure,” said Dr Harikrishnan S, one of the authors of the study and principal investigator of the Centre of Excellence in Heart Failure and Professor of Cardiology at SCTIMST.
He pointed out that Kerala has made a substantial improvement in the last six years when the number of patients taking follow-up medicines increased from 25% to 47%. The supply of generic medicines through government supply chains under various central and state schemes have helped the situation, he said.
Apart from affordability, there are patients who could not continue the medicines due to their side effects.
Fifty-three tertiary care hospitals in 21 states in India participated in the NHFR study involving over 10,000 patients from 2018 to 2020. Narrowed heart arteries (that could lead to heart attack) were found to be the major reason for heart failure (72%), followed by diseases affecting heart muscles that lead to poor pumping of blood to the body parts (18%). “The patient should be aware of the warning signals and reach the treatment facility during the golden hour,” he said.