Definition
Heart failure is a condition that develops when your heart doesn’t pump the amount of blood your body needs. This can happen if your heart can’t fill up with enough blood. It can also happen when your heart is too weak to pump properly. Although “heart failure” is a serious condition that needs immediate medical care, it does not mean that your heart has stopped.
More than 6 million adults in the United States have heart failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children can also develop heart failure.
Heart failure can develop suddenly (the acute kind) or over time as your heart gets weaker (the chronic kind). It can affect one or both sides of your heart.
Heart failure can also damage your liver or kidneys. Other complications include pulmonary hypertension or other heart conditions, such as an irregular heartbeat, heart valve disease, and sudden cardiac arrest.
Blacks are more likely to have heart failure than people of other races. They also often have more serious cases of heart failure and at a younger age.
Between the ages of 45 and 64, Black males have a 70% higher risk for heart failure than Caucasian males. Black females between the ages of 45 and 54 have a 50% greater risk to develop heart failure than Caucasian females, according to USC Journal.
Causes
Left-sided and right-sided heart failure may have different causes. Typically, heart failure is caused by another medical condition that damages your heart. This includes coronary heart disease, heart inflammation, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, or an irregular heartbeat. Symptoms of heart failure may not show right away. However, you may eventually feel tired and short of breath and notice fluid buildup in your lower body, around your stomach, or neck.
Risk factors
There are several factors that can raise your risk of heart failure. Some factors can be controlled by making changes to your lifestyle habits. Others including your age, race, or ethnicity cannot. Your risk of heart failure goes up if you have more than one of these factors.
- Age. People 65 years or older have a higher risk of heart failure because aging can weaken and stiffen your heart. Older adults are also more likely to have other health conditions that cause heart failure.
- Family history and genetics. Your risk of heart failure is higher if people in your family have been diagnosed with heart failure. Certain gene mutations can also raise your risk. These mutations make your heart tissue weaker or less flexible.
- Lifestyle habits. An unhealthy diet, smoking, using cocaine or other illegal drugs, heavy alcohol use, and lack of physical activity can raise your risk of heart failure.
- Other medical conditions. Any heart or blood vessel condition such as serious lung disease, or infections such as HIV or SARS-CoV-2 may raise your risk of heart failure. Long-term health conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, chronic kidney disease, anemia, thyroid disease, or iron overload also raise your risk. Cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy can injure your heart and raise your risk. Atrial fibrillation, a common type of irregular heart rhythm, can also cause heart failure.
- Sex. Heart failure is common in both men and women, although men often develop heart failure at a younger age than women and women have worse symptoms. Women more commonly have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which occurs when the heart does not fill with enough blood. Men are more likely to have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
Symptoms
Symptoms of heart failure vary depending on the type of heart failure you have and how serious it is. Those who have mild heart failure may not notice any symptoms except when doing hard physical work. Symptoms also vary depending on whether you have left-sided or right-sided heart failure. However, you can have symptoms of both types. Symptoms will typically get worse as your heart grows weaker.
Symptoms of heart failure include:
- Shortness of breath after routine activities like climbing stairs (one of the first symptoms you may notice). As your heart grows weaker, you may notice this while getting dressed or walking across the room. Some people may even experience shortness of breath while they are lying flat.
- Cough
- Fatigue (extreme tiredness even after rest)
- General weakness
- Bluish color of finger and lips
- Sleepiness and trouble concentrating
- Inability to sleep lying flat
- Older adults who do not get much physical activity may not experience shortness of breath. But they may feel tired and confused.
People who have right-sided heart failure may also have the following symptoms: