THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Heart Failure Registry (NHFR), which is expected to examine the reasons behind heart failure and the policy interventions needed to contain the same, has come out with its first clinical findings.
It is the ischemic heart disease which is the leading cause of heart failure. In the case of the comorbid condition, it is hypertension that tops the list. The initial findings of the study are based on the analysis conducted on 1,000 patients from various parts of the country. The data has been consolidated by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), which is the national coordinator in the preparation of NHFR.
“NHFR supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research is conducted on 52 hospitals spreading across 23 states. More than 4,000 patients have enrolled so far. The analysis of first 1,000 patients has now been released,” said Dr Harikrishnan S, Professor of Cardiology at SCTIMST, who is also the principal investigator of NHFR.
Some of the findings:
Dilated cardiomyopathy and rheumatic heart disease were the other two leading reasons for heart failure. In the case of comorbid conditions other than that of hypertension, diabetes and tobacco use also top the list.
Earlier, while launching NHFR, it was stated that with heart failure burden increasing at an alarming level, the said study might shed some light on the same. It was then proposed that around 10,000 patients will be recruited as part of NHFR.
That is each hospital will recruit around 200 patients diagnosed with heart failure.
In the state, five hospitals are becoming part of NHFR. They are Caritas Hospital, Kottayam; Lisie Hospital, Ernakulam; Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly; Pariyaram Medical College and Kozhikode Aster MIMS.
At the same time, SCTIMST authorities said along with the preparation of NHFR some 40 sub-studies, including the socioeconomic impact of heart failure, effects of iron supplementation in preventing it and others, will also be carried out.
Earlier, international medical journal ‘The Lancet’ in an article titled “The changing patterns of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors in the states of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2016’ observed the prevalent cases of cardiovascular diseases had increased in India from 25.7 million in 1990 to 54.5 million in 2016.
A subsequent spike in deaths has also been noted from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2016. It was on the other day that the initial study report was released by Indian Council of Medical Research director general Balram Bhargava during a function attended by SCTIMST president Vijay Kumar Saraswat, SCTIMST director Asha Kishore and others.