Current Perspectives Survival and Predictors of Survival in Patients With Congestive Heart Failure

Background The fundamental determinant of the natural history of Chagas ' disease is cardiac involvement. Methods and Results We studied 104 male patients with congestive heart failure due to Chagas ' disease to estimate the survival distribution function and to evaluate age, functional class (FC), maximal oxygen consumption (Vo2max), and ejection fraction (EF) as predictors of survival. Statistical evaluation was performed through univariate (Student's t test and X2 test) and multivariate analyses (Cox's regression mod-el). Overall survival was 66 % at 1 year, 56 % at 3 years, and 48 % at 5 years. Ages were not statistically different (P=.9811) between survivor (40.3±8.7) and nonsurvivor (40.3±9.4) groups. The ejection fraction(s) were statistically different (P=.0001) between survival (43.6±9.9) and nonsurvival ince the original description of Chagas ' disease,