Abstract

Heart failure and dementia are diseases of the elderly that result in billions of dollars in annual healthcare expenditure. With the aging of the United States population, and increasing evidence of shared risk factors, there is a need to understand the conditions' shared contributions to nationwide mortality. The objectives of our study are to estimate the burden of mortality from heart failure and dementia and characterize the demographics of affected individuals.This is a retrospective study using National Vital Statistics Data from 1999-2016 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and ICD-10 codes for heart failure and dementia defined by the Medicare Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse. From 1999 to 2016, deaths contributed by heart failure and dementia totaled 214,706 and comprised 4.00% of all heart failure deaths and 9.04% of all dementia deaths. Women were more affected than men, with higher age-adjusted mortality rates (per 1,000,000 person-years): 38.67, 95% CI: 38.47-38.87 vs. 32.90, 95% CI: 32.65-33.15, p<0.001. Whites were affected more than Blacks, with age-adjusted mortality rates (per 1,000,000 person-years): 38.00, 95% CI: 37.83-38.16 vs. 31.06, 95% CI: 30.54-31.59, p<0.001. However, under the age of 65 years, higher crude mortality rates (per 1,000,000 person-years) were reported in men (0.20, 95% CI 0.18-0.22) compared with women (0.15, 95% CI 0.13-0.16, p<0.001).This study provides insight into temporal trends and nationwide mortality rates reported for heart failure and dementia. Our results suggest a disproportionate burden on populations over 85 years, Whites, and women.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cardfail.2018.11.012

View details for PubMedID 30471348