TY - JOUR T1 - Prognosis following a diagnosis of heart failure and the role of primary care: a review of the literature JF - BJGP Open JO - Br J Gen Pract Open DO - 10.3399/bjgpopen17X101013 VL - 1 IS - 3 SP - bjgpopen17X101013 AU - Nicholas R Jones AU - FD Richard Hobbs AU - Clare J Taylor Y1 - 2017/10/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/1/3/bjgpopen17X101013.abstract N2 - Heart failure (HF) is a common chronic condition that affects around 900 000 people in the UK.1 Primary care plays a central role in the diagnosis, long-term management, and end-of-life care for these patients. While there is specialist support available from HF nurses and cardiologists, GPs remain responsible for overseeing most patient care once a diagnosis is made including management to delay progression, recognition of HF decompensations, and patient follow-up in the vulnerable period following an acute admission. Patients with HF often have several other conditions, which can change over time and require different, sometimes conflicting, treatment. GPs also provide timely information on prognosis, discuss treatment options, and support advanced care planning.2 It is therefore crucial to support clinicians’ understanding and awareness of the HF trajectory. In this article we present relevant evidence on HF survival rates and factors that affect outlook. We also explore reported cause of death in patients with HF and trends in survival over time.The distinction between acute and chronic HF may be artificial, as both usually occur at some point in most patients with HF but clinical practice and research have traditionally separated the two groups. When discussing prognosis with a patient it can be useful to consider their recent level of symptom stability as the evidence base draws on studies that have tended to recruit from either stable, ‘chronic’ community patients or those admitted with an ‘acute’ episode of HF. The European Society of Cardiology's (ESC's) definition of chronic HF is where the patient has had the condition for some time; stable is where there has been no significant change in the past month.3 A chronic, stable patient who suffers a deterioration in their condition can be said to have acutely decompensated, but ‘acute HF’ can also refer to a patient’s first … ER -