The heart is unable to pump sufficient amounts of blood to meet the metabolic demands of the body.
Dyspnea, orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, weakness, fatigue, edema and an increase in abdominal girth are common complaints. Nocturnal angina may occur if severe ischemic heart disease is the underlying cause of heart failure.
These symptoms are often incorrectly attributed to noncardiac causes including normal aging.
Dyspnea is the initial manifestation in most patients. This occurs as hypoxemia due to low cardiac output ensures. At first this may a subtle change, but as the disease progress this is the most common presenting symptom especially in left heart failure.
Dyspnea on exertion occurs in 95% of patients with systolic heart failure and 85% of patients with diastolic heart failure.
Signs, like symptoms, may be nonspecific and require a high index of suspicious.
Patients with left ventricular failure may experience fatigue weakness, and alterations in mental status such as confusion, difficulty in concentrating, impaired memory, headache, insomnia, tachycardia, hypotension with a narrow pulse pressure, gallop rhythm, pleural effusion and anxiety.
Patients with right ventricular failure complain of weight gain and the accumulation of fluid. A 10% gain in body weight may occur before pitting edema occurs. Other signs including: elevated JVP (jugular venous pressure), ankle or sacral oedema, hepatomegaly, and ascites.
What are the symptoms and signs of heart failure?
