Diagnostic Approach to Heart Failure in Türkiye
Author Information
Author(s): URAL Dilek, ASARCIKLI Lale Dinç, ÇÖLLÜOĞLU İnci Tuğçe, ŞAHİN Anıl, ÇAVUŞOĞLU Yüksel, YILMAZ Mehmet Birhan, NALBANTGİL Sanem, ATA Naim, ÜLGÜ Mustafa Mahir, BİRİNCİ Şuayip, MURAT Selda, DEMİR Emre, KANIK Emine Arzu, ÇELİK Ahmet
Primary Institution: Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)
Hypothesis
The study aims to review the diagnostic approach to heart failure in Türkiye.
Conclusion
The widespread use of transthoracic echocardiography is crucial for quality care in heart failure patients in Türkiye, but advanced imaging methods are underutilized.
Supporting Evidence
- All heart failure patients had at least one electrocardiogram and one transthoracic echocardiography examination.
- CXR utilization rate was 93.7%, while CAG utilization rate was 17.9%.
- 16.3% of Turkish heart failure patients had at least one natriuretic peptide measurement.
- The highest rate of NP use was observed in the Central Anatolia Region (21.0%).
- NP measurement during heart failure diagnosis revealed a rising trend over time.
Takeaway
Doctors in Türkiye use a simple heart test called echocardiography a lot, but they don't use more advanced tests as much, which could help patients more.
Methodology
This study is a subanalysis of the nationwide TRends-HF study, based on anonymized data from the National Electronic Database between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2022.
Potential Biases
The primary barrier to evidence-based patient care appears to be physicians’ attitudes towards routine diagnostic methods.
Limitations
Biochemical analysis results were not fully integrated for 2016 and 2017, leading to potential inaccuracies, and some patients had both BNP and NT-proBNP measurements, which may cause data duplication.
Participant Demographics
The study population consisted of 2,722,151 heart failure patients, with 51.7% female and a mean age of 68.33 years.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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