Abstract
Noncardiac Comorbidities are frequent and may be overlooked during routine CHF management. They have great impact on hospitalisations and mortality. The most important comorbidities in heart failure patients are renal insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleeping disorders like obstructive and central apnea syndrom, and anemia. The most powerful predictor for mortality is renal insufficiency. It's important to recognize the different causes of renal failure. Defining the volume status and the cardiac output is crucial for the guidance of therapy. The management of diuretic resistance is of special interest and often challenging. Diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor for heart failure. The benefit of ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin receptor blockers for HF and DM is accepted. The management of Diabetes in HF depends on side-effect profiles of the numerous anti-diabetic drugs. Metformin is safe even in HF patients. Thiazolidinediones should be avoided in NYHA class III/IV because of fluid retention. In COPD patients there is an underuse of betablockers and the prediction of mortality with this comorbidity could be partially caused by that. The principle goal of treatment of sleeping disorders is to avoid hypoxia during night. CPAP therapy improves live quality and HF symptoms. Anemia is often diagnosed, the best therapy - erythropoetin plus iron or iron alone - remains controversial. Iron supplementation without anemia could be an option for better quality of life. To handle all these comorbidities in heart failure patients becomes more and mor complex. Heart failure nurses can help us to manage these growing population.
Published Version
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