A daily “burden”, testifies a patient: heart failure affects 1.5 million French people, but remains poorly known to the public and too little diagnosed
A daily “burden”, testifies a patient: heart failure affects 1.5 million French people, but remains poorly known to the public and too little diagnosed according to Health Insurance, which is launching an awareness campaign to the warning signs of this chronic disease.
“If tomorrow in your family someone tells you I have cancer, everyone will be moved. The same person tells you I was diagnosed with heart failure, if there is emotion, it will be much less strong »explains Pr Christophe Leclercq, president of the French Society of Cardiology.
However, cardiovascular pathologies represent the first cause of death in the world, and the second in France – a patient dies every 7 minutes from this disease -, following cancers, he indicated during a conference of press Tuesday.
“Many (of French people) do not know what burden heart failure can represent” for patients, testifies Philippe Muller, in his sixties with nearly thirty years of illness, founder of the association for the support of heart failure (SIC).
Shortness of breath at rest or following a few meters of walking, significant weight variations, very great fatigue are then part of the person’s daily life. “Everything becomes complicated, we have to get help for everything”he notes.
But before arriving at these disabling symptoms, the first signs make it possible to make an early diagnosis: shortness of breath, even slight, rapid weight gain, edema in the feet or ankles and a feeling of fatigue, detail the representatives of the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam).
Diagnostic error
However, only one in five seniors can spontaneously cite one of these four warning signs, while those over 60 are the most affected, regretted Thomas Fatôme, director general of Health Insurance.
As a result, between 400,000 and 700,000 French people with heart failure are not diagnosed, he estimates.
On average, doctors evoke the symptoms of heart failure with only 36% of their patients over 60, details Thomas Fatôme. The Cnam will thus work to raise awareness among health professionals.
Due to improved life expectancy, heart failure increases with age and affects 10% of people aged 70 and over. It can be linked to cardiovascular risk factors (tobacco, diabetes, obesity, etc.)
For Cnam, the challenge is ” considerable “: the pathology, “heavy, which can be disabling”sometimes leads to seizures called “decompensation”often requiring hospitalization, explains the general manager.
Remote monitoring and anticipation
The 200,000 annual hospitalizations linked to this pathology represent 42% of health insurance expenditure devoted to heart failure (which was a total of some 3 billion euros in 2020).
Et “each hospitalization amplifies the signals of the disease”, emphasizes Philippe Muller. It also increases the risk of death.
Once the disease has been diagnosed, in order to avoid repeated hospitalizations, health professionals recommend cooperative work between nurses, general practitioners, specialists, and hospital teams, in order to ensure follow-up.
Another track: remote monitoring. Carried out using a connected scale that can detect rapid weight gain, sometimes a harbinger of decompensation, this device is deployed among 15,600 patients with advanced forms of the disease. It should generalize.
As World Heart Day approaches on September 29, the national awareness campaign, under the slogan “Heart failure: what if your heart was trying to tell you something? » will be available in all media, including social networks.
Next year, a campaign will be launched on the right reflexes to adopt in the face of the symptoms of the pathology.
