Acta Med. 2025, 68: 142-150

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2026.5

Clinical Trajectories and Outcomes of Acute Heart Failure in Internal Medicine: A Real-World Single-Centre Study

Edgardo J. KaplinskyaID, Silvia Masmitjà Comajuana, Josefa Torres Martínezb, Ana Serrado Iglesiasb, Daniel Cuartero Guerrerob, Francesc Planas Aymaa, Lourdes Zuritaa, Gustavo Tolchinsky Wiesenb, Esther Moreno Ariñoc, Àngels Fumàs Comasd, Cristina Carod Péreze

aCardiology Unit, Hospital Municipal de Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
bInternal Medicine Department, Hospital Municipal de Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
cEmergency Department, Hospital Municipal de Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
dManagement Control and Process Unit, Badalona Serveis Assistencials, Barcelona, Spain
eHealthcare Management, Badalona Serveis Assistencials, Barcelona, Spain

Received September 28, 2025
Accepted January 6, 2026

References

1. McDonagh TA, Metra M, Adamo M, et al. 2021 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure. Eur Heart J. 2021; 42: 3599–726. <https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab368>
2. Bozkurt B, Ahmad T, Alexander KM. Heart Failure Epidemiology and Outcomes Statistics: A Report of the Heart Failure Society of America. J Card Fail. 2023; 29: 1412–51. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cardfail.2023.07.006> <PubMed>
3. Cheema B, Ambrosy AP, Kaplan RM, et al. Lessons learned in acute heart failure. Eur J Heart Fail. 2018; 20: 630–41. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.1042> <PubMed>
4. Shoaib A, Farag M, Nolan J, et al. Mode of presentation and mortality amongst patients hospitalized with heart failure? A report from the First Euro Heart Failure Survey. Clin Res Cardiol. 2019; 108: 510–19. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00392-018-1380-6> <PubMed>
5. Labrosciano C, Horton D, Air T, et al. Frequency, trends and institutional variation in 30-day all-cause mortality and unplanned readmissions following hospitalization for heart failure in Australia and New Zealand. Eur J Heart Fail. 2021; 23: 31–40. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.2030>
6. Davidge J, Halling A, Ashfaq A, et al. Clinical characteristics at hospital discharge that predict cardiovascular readmission within 100 days in heart failure patients – An observational study. Int J Cardiol Cardiovasc Risk Prev. 2023; 16: 200176.
7. Sharma Y, Horwood C, Hakendorf P, et al. Characteristics and outcomes of patients with heart failure discharged from different specialty units in Australia: an observational study. QJM: Int J Med. 2022; 115: 727–34. <https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcac051>
8. De Matteis G, Covino M, Burzo ML, et al. Clinical Characteristics and Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality among Older Patients with Acute Heart Failure. J Clin Med. 2022; 11: 439. <https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11020439> <PubMed>
9. Trullàs JC, Miró Ò, Formiga F, Martín-Sánchez FJ, et al. The utility of heart failure registries: a descriptive and comparative study of two heart failure registries. Postgrad Med J. 2016; 92: 260–6. <https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133739>
10. Trullàs JC, Moreno-García MC, Mittelbrunn-Alquézar V, et al. The RICA-2 registry: design and baseline characteristics of the first 1,000 patients. Rev Clin Esp (Barc). 2024; 224: 522–33. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rce.2024.06.010>
11. Marques I, Lopes Ramos R, Mendonça D, et al. One-year mortality after hospitalization for acute heart failure: Predicting factors (PRECIC study subanalysis). Rev Port Cardiol. 2023; 42: 505–13. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.repc.2022.07.017>
12. Verdiani V, Panigada G, Fortini A, et al. The heart failure in internal medicine in Tuscany: the SMIT study. Ital J Med. 2015; 9: 349–55. <https://doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2015.554>
13. Orso F, Pratesi A, Herbst A, et al. Acute heart failure in the elderly: setting related differences in clinical features and management. J Geriatr Cardiol. 2021; 18: 407–15.
14. Chuda A, Berner J, Malgorzata L. The journey of the heart failure patient based on data from a single center. Adv Clin Exp Med. 2019; 28: 489–98. <https://doi.org/10.17219/acem/78688>
15. Bazmpani MA, Papanastasiou CA, Giampatzis V, et al. Differences in Demographics, in-Hospital Management and Short-Term Prognosis in Admissions for Acutely Decompensated Heart Failure to Cardiology vs. Internal Medicine Departments: A Prospective Study. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. 2023; 10: 315.
16. Crespo-Leiro MG, Anker SD, Maggioni AP, et al. European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry (ESC-HF-LT): 1-year follow-up outcomes and differences across regions. Eur J Heart Fail. 2016; 18: 613–25. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.566>
17. Donal E, Lund LH, Oger E, et al. Baseline characteristics of patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction included in the Karolinska Rennes (KaRen) study. Arch Cardiovasc Dis. 2014; 107: 112–21. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acvd.2013.11.002>
18. Abraham WT, Fonarow GC, Albert NM, et al. Predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients hospitalized for heart failure: Insights from the Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment in Hospitalized Patients with Heart Failure (OPTIMIZE-HF). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008; 52: 347–56. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2008.04.028>
19. Adams KF Jr, Fonarow GC, Emerman CL, et al. Characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized for heart failure in the United States: rationale, design, and preliminary observations from the first 100,000 cases in the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry (ADHERE). Am Heart J. 2005; 149: 209–16. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2004.08.005>
20. Ide T, Kaku H, Matsushima S, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcome of hospitalized patients with heart failure from the large-scale Japanese registry of acute decompensated heart failure (JROADHF). Circ J. 2021; 85: 1438–50. <https://doi.org/10.1253/circj.CJ-20-0947>
21. Dokoupil J, Hrečko J, Čermáková E, et al. Characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted for acute heart failure in a single-centre study. ESC Heart Fail. 2022; 9: 2249–58. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.13759> <PubMed>
22. John FM, Joy A., Nellimala NJ, et al. Predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients admitted with Congestive Heart failure (HF) in a general medical ward – A case-control study from a tertiary care centre in South India. ChrisMed JHR. 2021; 8: 125–30.
23. Ambrosy AP, Fonarow GC, Butler J, et al. The global health and economic burden of hospitalizations for heart failure: lessons learned from hospitalized heart failure registries. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014; 63: 1123–33. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2013.11.053>
24. Dharmarajan K, Hsieh AF, Lin Z, et al. Diagnoses and timing of 30-day readmissions after hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia. JAMA. 2013; 309: 355–63. <https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.216476> <PubMed>
25. Sager R, Lindstedt I, Edvinsson L, et al. Increased mortality in elderly heart failure patients receiving infusion of furosemide compared to elderly heart failure patients receiving bolus injections. J Geriatr Cardiol. 2020; 17: 359–64.
26. Wideqvist M, Cui X, Magnusson C, et al. Hospital readmissions of patients with heart failure from real world: timing and associated risk factors. ESC Heart Fail. 2021; 8: 1388–97. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.13221> <PubMed>
27. Al-Omary MS, Khan AA, Davies AJ, et al. Outcomes following heart failure hospitalization in a regional Australian setting between 2005 and 2014. ESC Heart Fail. 2018; 5: 271–8. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.12239> <PubMed>
28. Udani K, Patel D, Mangano A. A Retrospective Study of Admission NT-proBNP Levels as a Predictor of Readmission Rate, Length of Stay and Mortality. HCA Healthc J Med. 2021; 2: 207–14.
29. Voors AA, Ouwerkerk W, Zannad F, et al. Development and validation of multivariable models to predict mortality and hospitalization in patients with heart failure. Eur J Heart Fail. 2017; 19: 627–34. <https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.785>
30. Huang YT, Tseng YT, Chu TW, et al. N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) – based score can predict in-hospital mortality in patients with heart failure. Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 29590. <https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29590> <PubMed>
front cover

ISSN 1211-4286 (Print) ISSN 1805-9694 (Online)

Open access journal

Archive