Management of heart failure

Key facts

• Over 1 million people in the UK are living with heart failure with around 200,000 new diagnoses every year
• Heart failure is diagnosed by signs, symptoms and findings on an echocardiogram report for ejection fraction
• Diuretics remain the mainstay of treatment for managing fluid congestion in all types of heart failure
• Recent clinical trials provided a robust evidence base to improve prognosis in HFrEF through use of SGLT2 inhibitors (dapagliflozin and empagliflozin) in patients with heart failure both with and without type 2 diabetes.

Contributing author:  Alison Warren, consultant pharmacist, cardiology, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sussex ICS