Fletcher Allen, a Vermont university hospital and medical center, serves all of
Vermont and the northern New York region. Located in Burlington, Fletcher Allen is a regional, academic healthcare center and teaching hospital in alliance with the University of Vermont.
Research Case Study: Heart Failure
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At Fletcher Allen, patient care is informed by research. The following case study is one example of how a research study is helping to improve the care of people with heart failure.
Situation
Heart failure is a life-threatening condition that is becoming increasingly common as our population ages. Approximately 5 million people suffer from heart failure and an additional half-million people are diagnosed every year in the U.S.
Heart failure occurs when your heart muscle can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs. The heart is too weak or stiff to pump or fill with blood efficiently. This can be caused by a number of factors, including coronary artery disease, a past heart attack, high blood pressure, infection and other conditions.
Predicting the biological markers that can lead to heart failure is an important tool in the early diagnosis and ultimately effective treatment of this disease.
Solution
At Fletcher Allen, our heart failure specialists are actively involved in ground-breaking research to improve the care of people with heart failure.
In 2008, we participated in a national, multi-center research study of patients aged 65 and older to help identify new risk factors that can lead to congestive heart failure.
Through this effort, researchers at Fletcher Allen and the University of Vermont College of Medicine along with several other medical centers, studied approximately 4017 men and women aged 65 and older throughout the country. These patients were part of the Cardiovascular Health Study – a large, national effort that studied heart disease risk factors in the elderly.
Researchers sought to determine whether patients who had certain proteins in their blood associated with inflammation, combined with metabolic syndrome (a group of conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and others), were at increased risk of developing heart failure.
Benefits
The study found that patients with increased levels of certain proteins in the blood associated with inflammation, as well as metabolic syndrome, were at an increased risk for heart failure. Results were published in a high profile journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation.
As a result, physicians at Fletcher Allen and throughout the country now have an additional tool to help predict which patients are at risk for heart failure. This allows for early diagnosis, improved treatments and ultimately, prevention of this deadly disease -- helping patients live longer, healthier lives.
