Patients with worsening chronic heart failure who present to a hospital emergency department require hospital care

Table 2 Reasons for hospital admission in patients with worsening CHF (The patients could be admitted for more than one reason)

Reason for hospital admission	Proportion	Number
Pneumonia/respiratory disease	35.4%	278
Need to monitor cardiac rhythm	15.6%	123
Communication problem (such as dementia, stroke and aphasia)	22.3%	175
Pulmonary oedema	11.3%	89
Myocardial infarction	6.2%	49
Anaemia*	5.2%	41
Pathologic blood chemistry other than haemoglobin**	3.7%	29
Hypotension	2.1%	17

*S-Haemoglobinb < 100 g/L or a decrease of S-Haemoglobin > 20 g/L
** S-Creatinine > 250 μmol/L, S-Potassium > 5.5 mmol/L or < 3.4 mmol/L, S-Troponin T > 0.05 μg/L, Creatine kinase-MB > 5 μg/L, ASAT and ALAT > three times above the normal value

ISSN: 1756-0500