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The Importance of Assessing Nutritional Status in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure

  • Management of Heart Failure (TE Meyer, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is a syndrome characterized by high morbidity and mortality, despite advances in medical and device therapy that have significantly improved survival. The outcome of HF in elderly patients results from a combination of biological, functional, psychological, and environmental factors, one of which is nutritional status. Malnutrition, as well as HF, is frequently present with aging. Early detection might lead to earlier intervention. It is our goal to review the importance of nutritional status in elderly patients with HF, as well as tools for assessing it. We also propose a simple decision algorithm for the nutritional assessment of elderly patients with HF.

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Conflict of Interest

Luis Sargento has received payment for the development of educational presentations from Servier.

Susana Longo declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Nuno Lousada has received payment for lectures, including service on speakers bureaus from Servier.

Roberto Palma dos Reis has received compensation for service as a consultant for Delta Laboratories.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Heart Failure Unit, Cardiology Department, Pulido Valente Hospital, Lisbon North Hospital Centre, Rua Manuel Costa Silva nº7-2A, 1750-335, Lisbon, Portugal

    Luis Sargento

  2. Heart Failure Unit, Cardiology Department, Pulido Valente Hospital, Lisbon North Hospital Centre, Lisbon, Portugal

    Susana Longo & Nuno Lousada

  3. Cardiology Department, Pulido Valente Hospital, Lisbon North Hospital Centre, Lisbon, Portugal

    Roberto Palma dos Reis

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  1. Luis Sargento
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  2. Susana Longo
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  4. Roberto Palma dos Reis
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Correspondence to Luis Sargento.

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Sargento, L., Longo, S., Lousada, N. et al. The Importance of Assessing Nutritional Status in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure. Curr Heart Fail Rep 11, 220–226 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11897-014-0189-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11897-014-0189-5

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