ArticleBMJ open2026
Association of symptoms at heart failure diagnosis with hospitalisation and mortality at 6 and 12 months: a retrospective cohort study using UK primary care health records.
Article in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Primary Care Signals and Diagnostic Pathways Before Incident Heart Failure: A Systematic Scoping Review.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe investigated symptoms reported before and after heart failure (HF) diagnosis and their associations with 3-month hospitalisation and mortality.
objectivesTo examine associations between symptoms recorded in primary care and short-term hospitalisation and mortality in HF patients.
designLandmark analysis using Royston-Parmar survival models at baseline (diagnosis), 6 and 12 months post-diagnosis.
settingPrimary care database (Clinical Practice Research Datalink) linked to hospital and mortality data (1998-2020).
participantsAdults (>40 years) with a first HF diagnosis. EXPOSURES: Shortness of breath, ankle swelling, oedema, fatigue, chest pain, depression and anxiety in the 3 months before diagnosis and at 6 and 12 months. OUTCOMES: 3-month all-cause hospitalisation and mortality; secondary outcomes included HF and non-cardiovascular hospitalisation.
resultsAmong 86 882 HF patients (62 742 and 54 555 surviving to 6 and 12 months, respectively), the magnitude of symptom risk varied by timepoint. Specifically, the symptoms with the strongest associations with adverse outcomes were: depression for all-cause hospitalisation at diagnosis (HR: 1.26; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.39) and 6 months (1.46; 1.25 to 1.70); ankle swelling for mortality (1.49; 1.14 to 1.94) at 6 months and SOB for HF hospitalisation (1.18; 1.12 to 1.26) at diagnosis and 12 months (1.99; 1.68 to 2.35).
conclusionsSymptoms persisted and were more prominent at 6 and 12 months post-diagnosis than at diagnosis.
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