Health insurance is doing prevention to help the French better identify the symptoms of heart failure. We describe the main signs that should alert you.
- 10% of people aged 70 and over suffer from heart failure.
- Every year, about 200,000 people are hospitalized because of the disease.
- The Health Insurance awareness campaign will be launched on September 25.
Heart failure affects more and more French people. About 1.5 million people are affected in France, but theHealth Insurance note that this figure should “increase by 25% every four years”. As such, she is launching a vast awareness campaign to improve the prevention of the disease.
What is heart failure?
Considered a chronic disease, heart failure corresponds to the inability of the heart pump to “ensure sufficient blood flow to meet the body’s needs”explains the French Federation of Cardiology. It can be the consequence of other pathologies, such as high blood pressure or coronary disease, but it can also be linked to lifestyle: excessive alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity, weight loss, etc. Health insurance specifies that certain factors can aggravate heart failure: diabetes, abnormalities of fats in the blood, smoking, and overweight/obesity.
EPOF: the 4 signs to identify heart failure
Four symptoms help detect heart failure. “Present in isolation, these 4 symptoms are not specific to the disease but their association or their recent occurrence should suggest heart failure“, warns the Health Insurance.
They are grouped under the acronym EPOF: shortness of breath, rapid weight gain, edema and fatigue. “These 4 signs are to be watched, especially after 60 years and in particular for people already diagnosed because they represent an aggravation of the disease which can lead to decompensation, or even hospitalization.recalls the Health Insurance.
For the first, it occurs first with effort, then as the disease worsens, the slightest activity, or even rest, causes difficulty in catching one’s breath. “The appearance of shortness of breath when lying down is a symptom of aggravation requiring urgent medical consultation”, alerts the Health Insurance. Then, a rapid and significant weight gain, of the order of two to three kilos in a few days, is a sign that should arouse attention. It can be the consequence of oedema, swelling of certain parts of the body such as the feet, ankles or legs. Finally, fatigue during daily efforts is also characteristic of the disease. She’s bound”lack of oxygen and nutrient supply to the muscles”.
Raising awareness of the symptoms of heart failure
These symptoms remain unknown. According to one study carried out in 2017, by the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies Group of the French Society of Cardiology, with people who did not know they were sick, “two thirds of people with the 4 signs of heart failure had not consulted a cardiologist in the previous 12 months, proof that these symptoms are not recognized by patients as signs of heart disease”. For this reason, the Health Insurance wishes to communicate about heart failure and its symptoms. Because in the absence of appropriate care, the disease evolves and can have dramatic consequences. In France, nearly 70,000 deaths are linked to this pathology each year.
