Different variables are playing a role in prognosis of acute heart failure.
Our purpose was to create and validate a risk score to predict mortality in patients with a first episode of acute heart failure during the first 2 months after the first hospitalization.
This was a prospective cohort study.
We recruited patients diagnosed with a first episode of acute heart failure.
We collected data on sociodemographic characteristics; medical history; symptoms; precipitating factors; signs and symptoms of congestion; echocardiographic parameters; aetiology; vital signs and laboratory findings; and response to initial treatment (yes/no). A Cox proportional hazard regression model was built with mortality during the first 2 months after the index episode as the dependent variable. A risk score is presented.
The mortality rate during the first 2 months after a first episode of heart failure was 5%. Age, systolic blood pressure, serum sodium, ejection fraction and blood urea nitrogen were selected in the internal validation, as was right ventricular failure. A risk score was developed. Both the model and the score showed good discrimination and calibration properties when applied to an independent cohort.
Our ESSIC-FEHF risk score showed excellent properties in the derivation cohort and also in a cohort from a different time period. This score is expected to help decision making in patients diagnosed with heart failure for the first time.

Copyright © 2020 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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