807-1 Congestive Heart Failure with Preserved Systolic Function in a Large Community-Dwelling Elderly Cohort: The Cardiovascular Health Study

LV diastolic dysfunction is known to be an important cause of congestive heart failure (CHFI in the elderly. However, the prevalence of LV diastolic dysfunction as a mechanism of CHF in a large, elderly cohort is unknown. The Cardiovascular Health Study is an NHLBI sponsored multi-center study of community-dwelling individuals 65 years and older designed to evaluate cardiovascular risk, mortality and morbidity. In Year 2 (1989–90), 4,629 of 5,201 individuals successfully underwent two-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) evaluation of the left ventricle ILV). The table outlines the prevalence of definite CHF by history and LV systolic function as assessed by 2-D echo. Normal LV systolic function was defined as normal LV ejection fraction (EF) and wall motion by qualitative/semiquantitative assessment, abnormal was defined as presence of either abnormal EF or wall motion lakinesis/dyskinesis), and borderline was intermediate.OverallMenWomenTotal Studied by Echo4,6291,9712,658Definite CHF by History79 (1.7%)43 (2.2%)36 (1.4%)Abnormal LV Systolic Function31 (39%)20 (46%)11 (31%)Borderline LV Systolic Function11 (14%)5 (12%)6 (17%)Normal LV Systolic Function37 (47%)18 (42%)19 (53%)ConclusionsIn this large elderly cohort; (1) the prevalence of definite congestive heart failure by history was 2%; 12) nearly one-half of participants with definite CHF had normal LV systolic function; (3) the distribution of systolic dysfunction among participants with definite CHF did not differ significantly by gender. These findings suggest a high prevalence of LV diastolic dysfunction as the mechanism of CHF among a large cohort of elderly, community-dwelling individuals