Acute heart failure syndromes: Epidemiology, risk stratification and prognostic factors.

Acute heart failure syndromes (AHFS) resulting in hospitalization are associated with an extremely high post-discharge mortality and readmission rate. There are several important prognostic factors, which includes blood pressure, body weight, renal function, QRS duration, and presence of coronary artery disease. The epidemiology of AHFS, prognostic factors and therapeutic targets were discussed at the 2008 European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care Meeting held in Versailles, France from 25-28 October 2008. This is a brief summary of the lectures presented on these topics at this meeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]