Closing the Gap: Insights into the Epidemiology of Heart Failure Care from the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network

Abstract

There is no field in greater need of high-quality prospective evidence and comparative effectiveness research than that of cardiovascular critical care. The stakes are high, fueled by a high proportion of lives lost. The resources consumed are substantial. Variability in care is striking and practice is often driven by institutional experience and preferences in the absence of robust evidence. Within the domain of critical care cardiology, management of cardiogenic shock and severely decompensated heart failure (HF) is emblematic of this need. As the composition of the population in cardiac intensive care units (CICUs) has shifted away from acute coronary syndromes, 1 Bohula EA Katz JN van Diepen S Alviar CL Baird-Zars VM Park JG et al. Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network. Demographics, care patterns, and outcomes of patients admitted to cardiac intensive care units: the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network Prospective North American Multicenter Registry of Cardiac Critical Illness. JAMA Cardiol. 2019; 4: 928-935 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar patients with severe manifestations of HF have become a focal point of practice in the CICU and major gaps in evidence regarding their management have become even more apparent.