Factors associated to in-hospital mortality in patients with decompensated heart failure. A retrospective study

Abstract

Objective: to determine the association of risk factors of in-hospital mortality in patients with decompensated heart failure (DHF) in a regional hospital in Colombia. Methods: retrospective study in patients hospitalized for DHF between August 2017 and December 2018. Data were obtained from medical records with prior institutional consent. Sociodemographic data, comorbidities, clinical, paraclinical, and imaging characteristics were collected, which were compared with the final discharge condition. After bivariate analysis, a logistic regression model was built to adjust for confounding factors. Values of p <0.05 were considered significant. Results: 172 medical records were reviewed; most of those patients were men from urban areas. The most common comorbidities were high blood pressure and COPD. The most prevalent symptoms included cough and orthopnea while NYHA functional classification III. Pleural effusion and lower limb edema occurred in most of patients. Hospital mortality was near one quarter of patients (25.6%). The factors that were associated with greater mortality were age, low weight, altered state of consciousness, and elevated blood nitrogen. Conclusion: a high in-hospital mortality was found in this series of patients. Among the factors associated with mortality from heart failure were age >70 years, low weight, altered state of consciousness, BUN >20, hyponatremia, and pulmonary failure. While patients with mitral insufficiency showed a protective effect.