Screening for Heart Failure in General Medicine Consultations

Plain-language summary

Heart failure poses a significant public health challenge due to its high prevalence and the substantial human and financial costs it generates. Furthermore, the lack of clear screening guidelines and challenges in accessing care and multi-professional coordination, contribute to diagnostic delays, leading more patients to seek care in more severe clinical states and requiring direct admission to emergency departments. There is therefore also a major organizational challenge in better managing the entry of patients into the healthcare system. This necessitates the development of structured heart failure screening strategies. The 2021 European Society of Cardiology (ESC 2021) guidelines on heart failure screening prioritize the identification of at-risk individuals and the early detection of disease manifestations. They suggest that, in high-risk groups, tests such as echocardiography and biomarker measurement (NT-proBNP) should be used to detect heart failure at an early stage, even in the absence of symptoms. The guidelines also delineate specific biomarker thresholds and propose organizational frameworks with defined timelines to facilitate systematic screening. The implementation of a heart failure screening pathway within primary care involving multi-professional cooperation is therefore warranted. Stratifying screening based on risk factors and symptomatology is expected to enhance the positive predictive value of the screening process. Furthermore, evaluating the efficacy of this pathway is crucial for establishing a standardized, reproducible clinical protocol suitable for routine primary care practice. This study is a prospective, multicenter, observational study conducted within the context of routine clinical care.

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