Características clínico-epidemiológicas y manejo terapéutico de pacientes hospitalizados por insuficiencia cardíaca en el Hospital Nacional de Itauguá, 2024–2025

Christian David Cuevas Herrera; María Victoria Benítez Pérez; Araceli Arce Orrego; Leda Liz Ruiz Díaz Ros; Laura Silvana Aria Zayas

doi:10.53732/rccsalud/e81140

Authors

Christian David Cuevas Herrera Universidad del Pacífico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Asunción, Paraguay https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5956-4495
María Victoria Benítez Pérez Universidad del Pacífico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Asunción, Paraguay https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5793-9795
Araceli Arce Orrego Universidad del Pacífico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Asunción, Paraguay https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4419-6706
Leda Liz Ruiz Díaz Ros Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Hospital Nacional. Itauguá, Paraguay https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3450-9927
Laura Silvana Aria Zayas Universidad del Pacífico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Asunción, Paraguay https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5442-1201

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/e81140

Keywords:

heart failure, hospitalization, epidemiology, therapeutics

Abstract

Introduction. Heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and cardiovascular mortality. In Paraguay, evidence on its clinical characteristics and therapeutic management is scarce. Objective. To describe the clinical-epidemiological characteristics and therapeutic management of adults hospitalized for heart failure at Hospital Nacional de Itauguá during 2024–2025. Materials and methods. Observational, descriptive, retrospective study. A total of 219 patients aged ≥18 years with heart failure confirmed by echocardiography were included, out of 368 identified records. Sociodemographic variables, comorbidities, precipitating factors, ejection fraction, pharmacological treatment, and in-hospital outcomes were analyzed. Results. Mean age was 65.1 ± 6.9 years, with male predominance (53.4%). The most frequent comorbidities were hypertension (67.6%), obesity (52.1%), and dyslipidemia (47.9%). The main precipitating factors were infections (56.2%), hypertensive crises (52.1%), and arrhythmias (39.7%). Reduced ejection fraction was the most frequent individual phenotype (43.4%); the mildly reduced and preserved phenotypes together accounted for 56.6%. Among prognosis-modifying drugs received before admission, beta-blockers (68.9%) and ACE inhibitors/ARBs (64.8%) predominated; only 6.3% of patients with reduced ejection fraction were simultaneously receiving all four available drug families. Median hospital stay was 7 days, 25.1% required intensive care, and in-hospital mortality was 4.1%. Conclusion. Male sex predominated, with a high burden of comorbidities and infections as the main precipitating factor. The low coverage of prognosis-modifying treatment before admission points to a clear opportunity for therapeutic optimization.

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References

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