Prognosis of congestive heart failure in elderly patients with normal versus abnormal left ventricular systolic function associated with coronary artery disease

Abstract

The Framingham study demonstrated that the 5-year mortality after the onset of symptoms of congestive heart failure (CHF) was 62% for men and 42% for women. 1 Franciosa et al 2 found that the 3-year mortality rate for men with chronic CHF due to coronary artery disease or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy was 76%. CHF may occur with normal or abnormal left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction. 3–8 We report the results from a prospective study of elderly patients with CHF associated with coronary artery disease correlating normal and abnormal LV ejection fraction with cardiac mortality and total mortality.