Multicenter Analysis of Clinical Characteristics and Prognostic Factors of Patients with Congestive Heart Failure in Korea

Background and Objectives：Congestive heart failure is one of the most frequent problems in cardiovascular pa-tients. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure in Korea. Subjects and Methods：Nine university hospitals were involved, and gathered prospective clinical data on patients with heart failure. One thousand eight hundred and sixty four patients, admitted between Jan.1 1998 and Aug. 31 2003, were enrolled, and data from 1,759 patients were analyzed. Results：The cumulative survival rates at 6 month, and 1 and 2 years were 90.8, 80.1 and 76.4%, respectively. Ischemic heart disease was the most frequent underlying disease (32.3%). Diabetes mellitu