Multidisciplinary Approach of the Elderly Patient with Acute Heart Failure. Narrative Review

Abstract

The heart failure is a clinical syndrome that affects 26 million people worldwide, causing 75% of hospitalizations in patients over 65 whose decompensation is associated with greater in-hospital morbidity and mortality, which is why it is essential to have clear Exogenous and endogenous physiological factors in this population that alter a typical clinical expression, modify results of paraclinical studies or concomitant comorbidities present at the moment of approaching the patient in the emergency department. As a consequence of the fact that the cause of exacerbation of a heart failure may be multifactorial in this group of patients, a multidisciplinary approach is recommended for the continuous monitoring of vital signs in order to assess the hemodynamic status and to adjust pharmacological doses of drugs as according to Specific conditions that so require and therefore avoid invasive therapeutic strategies when they are not strictly necessary or when conservative measures worsen the critical condition of the patient. The implementation of strategies designed to improve the results in the quality and survival of the elderly should include provision of information and sufficient education, updated and individualized as the case may be, bear in mind that care becomes more tedious with aging, the importance of an assessment Geriatric evaluation of the presence or absence of geriatric syndromes, assessing the functional status, nutritional, affective, mental sphere and identifying the economic and social support that helps to prevent frequent causes of decompensation such as Nonadherence to treatment, overdose of the same or abrupt and sudden change for no apparent reason.