[Risk factors associated to mortality and functional deterioration in pluripathologic patients with heart failure].

OBJECTIVES: Incidence, clinical features, and outcome of heart failure in patients with other chronic pathologies have been scarcely evaluated. The aim of the present study was to prospectively assess these issues, and the prognostic and factors associated to functional deterioration in a cohort of pluripathologic patients (PP) with heart failure (HF), attended in areas of Internal Medicine of a tertiary teaching hospital in the south of Spain.
METHODS: Prospective observational study of all patients, attended in Internal Medicine areas of a tertiary teaching hospital, during June 2003. Patients were stratified in two cohorts: PP with HF as main category (PP-HF), and PP with no HF. Patients with two or more chronic diseases, distributed into seven categories (defined by a panel of experts) were considered PP. Incidence of PP-HF, functional evaluation (at baseline, at admission, and at discharge), and burden of hospital care (by means of urgent and programmed assistances, as well as episodes of hospitalization) in the last 12 months were analyzed. Chi-square, Fisher, "t" Student or U-Mann-Whitney and Rho de Spearman test were used for group comparisons. A multivariate analysis of predictors of survival and functional deterioration (fall in Barthel's scale > or = 10 points between baseline-discharge values) was performed in the PP-HF cohort. A p < 0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS: 132 pluripathologic patients (55 in PP-HF, and 77 in PP cohort) were included, from a global cohort of 339. Global incidence of PP-HF was 38,9/100 admissions. Mean age of PP-HF patients was 78, 50.9% were females; mortality rate and mean hospital stay were 23.6% and 12.2 days, respectively. Patients of PP-HF cohort compared to those of PP, were older (78 +/- 9.5 vs 73 +/- 10.8; p < 0.005), and suffered more chronic diseases (p = 0.0001). Functional abilities (at baseline, at admission, and at discharge), mean hospital stay, mortality, and burden of care in the previous 12 months were similar. Better functional abilities (OR: 1.136 [0.94-1.842]; p = 0.055), and less associated chronic diseases (OR: 0.072 [0.006-0.943], p = 0.045) were independently associated to survival; while older age (OR: 1,217 [1.016-1.457]; p = 0.03), and a poorer functional status at baseline (OR:1.80 [1.019-1.144]; p = 0.01) were associated to functional deterioration.
CONCLUSIONS: Heart failure prevalent disease in pluripathologic patients. Specific factors associated to survival were gender and less chronic conditions; while those associated to functional deterioration during hospital stay were age and a poor functional status at baseline.