Does My Patient with Multiple Comorbidities Have Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction, and Does It Matter?

Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) is a common diagnosis and accounts for half or more of all cases of heart failure. Despite its high prevalence and significant morbidity, the pathophysiology of HFpEF remains incompletely understood. Patients diagnosed with HFpEF often have significant cardiac and extra-cardiac comorbidities. Given the availability of evidence-based treatments for common comorbidities, but not for HFpEF, the necessity of diagnosing HFpEF among symptomatic elderly patients with multiple comorbidities is unclear. This commentary raises the question of whether the search for the diagnosis of HFpEF should instead be refocused to the management of common comorbidities without necessitating the heart failure diagnosis. © Copyright 2019 by the American Board of Family Medicine.