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Systolic heart failure in the elderly: optimizing medical management

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Abstract

The aging population with hypertension and coronary artery disease is rapidly increasing worldwide and develops heart failure (HF). A wide range of pharmacotherapeutic drugs are recommended in the HF management guidelines. For the most part, these recommendations are based on the results of studies in the younger population, and most drugs were not adequately tested in the elderly. However, many changes that occur during the aging process affect the response to several of the recommended therapeutic drugs. Physicians will be increasingly involved in managing the expanding elderly population with HF. It is therefore imperative that they recognize ways to use current pharmacotherapeutic agents and the increasing need for novel agents for optimizing the management of the elderly patient with HF.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grant # IAP-99003 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario. We thank Catherine Jugdutt for assistance.

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  1. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Cardiology, 9 Gates, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Jonathan P. Man

  2. 2C2 Walter MacKenzie Health Sciences Centre, Division of Cardiology, University of Alberta and Hospitals, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R7, Canada

    Bodh I. Jugdutt

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Correspondence to Jonathan P. Man or Bodh I. Jugdutt.

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Man, J.P., Jugdutt, B.I. Systolic heart failure in the elderly: optimizing medical management. Heart Fail Rev 17, 563–571 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-011-9282-y

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