Survival variables in old old patients (>85 years) with chronic heart failure

ABSTRACTFor the old old patients (pts) with congestive heart failure the use of combinations of drugs can easily lead to a sort of “evidence-based” polypragmasie. We analyzed a lot of 125 pts with congestive heart failure older than 85 years (mean 87.43 +/− 2.54 years), 53.6% male, enrolled consecutively between January 2011 – December 2012. We have compared some features of two subgroups: survivors' (S = 112 pts) vs deceased (D = 13 pts). The old old patients group included patients with length of hospitalization of 8.10+/−3.98 days and the rate of rehospitalization 6.4% and the death rate 10.4%. Number of drugs taken was 5.53+/−1.86 in S group vs 5.85+/−1.86 in D group (p = 0.560) and the length-of-stay was 8.18+/−3.79 in S group vs 7.38+/−5.53 in D group (p = 0.494). There were significant differences between group S vs D in: NYHA class, atrial fibrillation, hemoglobin level, blood urea nitrogen, and serum sodium. The number of drugs given to old old patients has not proven to reduce the length of stay...