Abstract 15846: Etiologies for Hospitalizations and in Hospital Mortality in Patients With Heart Failure: Insight From National Inpatient Sample Database

Abstract

Introduction: Heart failure is a common clinical syndrome that leads to high volumes of hospitalizations and in hospital mortality. Previous studies have attempted to characterize the various reasons for the high rates of morbidity and mortality associated with heart failure. Our study aimed to utilize large database information to identify the most common indicators for and cause of death in patients with heart failure. Methods: Using the National Inpatient Sample database, we analyzed heart failure hospitalizations during the years 2016-2019 and categorized reasons for hospitalization and in-patient mortality using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10). Results: We identified a total of 5,281,210 hospitalizations with heart failure as the principal or secondary diagnosis ICD-10 code. The leading cause for admission was heart failure (65%), followed by sepsis (8.5%), non ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) (6.0%), acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation (2.5%) and pneumonia (2.2%). There were a total of 161,417 cases of in-hospital mortality in patients with heart failure during this period. The most common reason for mortality was heart failure itself (49.8%), followed by sepsis (41.2%), NSTEMI (12.8%), acute hypoxic respiratory failure (7.8%) and acute-on-chronic hypoxic respiratory failure (5.9%). Conclusion: This study represents the most recent nationwide data on causes for hospitalization and mortality in patients with heart failure across the United States, with the most common cause of both being heart failure itself followed by sepsis and NSTEMI. A better understanding of why patients are hospitalized may lead to changes in practice to prevent admissions as well as in-hospital management to ultimately prevent death.