Prevalence and incidence

Heart failure is a frequent condition that affects approximately 2% of Belgians with an annual incidence of 15,000 new cases. The average age at diagnosis is 69 years (Belgian Cardiological League figures – 2016).

The prevalence of heart failure increases with age:

• Only 1% of people under the age of 55 have heart failure
• More than 10% of people over the age of 70 have heart failure, this percentage increases further with increasing age
  
  

The annual number of new diagnoses of heart failure (incidence) in the entire Belgian population is 194 per 100,000 inhabitants (95% - CI 172-218). The median age at diagnosis is 79 years (82 years for women and 76 years for men).

The annual number of new diagnoses of heart failure in people over 50 years of age is 502 per 100,000 inhabitants (95% - CI 444-565), with no significant difference between men and women.

The number of patients with heart failure will only increase further in the coming years.

This has several causes:

• The aging of the population, people are living longer and longer.
• Increasing prevalence of obesity and other cardiovascular risk factors.
• Better treatments mean more people will survive a heart attack, heart surgery, etc. These patients may later develop heart failure.
• Patients with heart failure also live longer due to better treatments.
• Increasing oncological treatments with possible cardiotoxicity.
• …

Prognosis

More than a quarter (26%) of patients diagnosed with heart failure die within 12 months. Almost half (46%) die within 5 years.

In men, the risk of death within 5 years after diagnosis of heart failure is higher than after diagnosis of a myocardial infarction, bladder cancer, prostate cancer or colon cancer.

In women, this risk is higher than after a diagnosis of breast cancer, myocardial infarction, colon cancer and cervical cancer.

With 130,000 prematurely lost years of life, heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in Belgium.

Costs to society

This disease poses not only a medical challenge, but also an economic challenge for healthcare. Currently, 1 to 2% of the Belgian healthcare budget goes to care for chronic heart failure. Two-thirds of this is spent on hospitalizations for heart failure. More than a quarter of patients (28.8%) require treatment in an intensive care unit for an average of 3.8 days. Just over half of patients (50.9%) are readmitted within a year of hospital discharge due to heart failure or another cardiovascular condition. The average time interval between two admissions is 3.2 months.

These numbers emphasize the importance of optimal treatment and follow-up for patients with heart failure, both in the hospital and in the outpatient setting. Reducing and avoiding hospitalizations is extremely cost-effective for the healthcare system.