Heart failure 2019. Insights from the National Society of Cardiology Journals

INTRODUCTION Most studies on heart failure (HF) management published in 2019 by high-ranking impact factor international journals focus on drug therapy. This included administration of sacubitril-valsartan with initiation during the index admission and the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in reducing cardiovascular mortality and HF. Most of these studies, targeting a broad readership, fail to characterize important local issues. Improvement in HF management needs to take into account specificities from different European Society of Cardiology (ESC) member countries. This approach may be achieved and disseminated to cardiologists by the National Society of Cardiology Journals (NSCJ). During the ESC Congress 2019, the ESC Editors’ Network started an initiative intended to boost dissemination of cardiology research published in the NSCJ by summarizing in a review paper the evidence gathered in selected areas. The ESC Editors Network members decided the first topic of such a review to be publications in the field of HF. Epidemiology Inequalities in the prevalence of risk factors, cardiovascular disease burden, cardiovascular mortality, and implementation of some therapeutic methods (coronary interventions, device implantations, and cardiac surgery) among the ESC member countries have recently been shown in the ATLAS study. These shortcomings depend on socio- economic factors and affect more predominantly middle-income than high-income countries. In..