Contrary to common perception heart failure conveys that the pumping ability of your heart has decreased. It does not imply that your heart has failed to function. Heart failure occurs as a result of a weakening of the heart muscle. As this weakening continues to get worse, the heart struggles to pump enough blood around the body for the proper functioning of the organs and tissues. Heart failure can also be called as, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Congestive Cardiac Failure (CCF), Left or Right Ventricular Failure (LVF or RVF)

This results in narrowing blood vessels, loss of less fluid out of the body which is termed as fluid retention and the increase in your heart rate. This pressurizes your heart. The extent to which your heart has failed to function depends on how much the pumping ability of your heart is decreased. The more severe your heart failure is, the more it will affect your life.

Some people with gentle heart failure retain their normal lifestyle for many years, but heart failure to a serious proportion can prevent even your day-to-day activities and can shorten the duration of your life. Extensive studies have proved that going through heart failure medications and making lifestyle changes can better your symptoms, reduce your time in hospital and help you to last longer.

The occurrence and endurance of heart failure is on the rise according to the increasing age of the population. The five year heart failure mortality rate is nearly 50%, which is more than most common cancers. The symptoms of heart failure include lack of breath, weakness, exercise intolerance, and abnormal gathering of body fluid and lung congestion. Every one of these symptoms could be on account of other kinds of illnesses. Physicians arrive at a diagnosis after a complete evaluation.

Heart failure is a common health hazard all over the world. Information received from around the world points to the fact that almost 3 in every 200 of the adult population suffers from heart failure. For example in Australia, around 5 in every 100 people above the age of 65 have heart failure. Heart failure is the reason behind almost 1 in every 100 hospital stays, each lasting a length of an average of eight days. Heart failure is most prevalent in the middle-aged and older population. The number of people with heart failure is rising in accordance with length of the life of people.

Recent statistics from the American Heart Association suggests that there are almost 5 million heart failure patients in the United States, and 550,000 fresh cases of heart failure spotted in the United States every year. This consists of 10 out of every 1,000 people above the age of 65. Among the freshly diagnosed patients below the age of 65, around 80 percent of males and 70 percent of females will die within eight years. In people affected with heart failure, sudden cardiac death happens at six to nine times the rate of the general population.