ABC Heart Fail Cardiomyop 2022; 2(1): 1-3

New Universal Definition of Heart Failure: A New Vision for Treatment

Evandro Tinoco Mesquita , Ana Paula Chedid, Lidia Ana Zytynski Moura

DOI: 10.36660/abchf.20220001

In March 2021, a new universal definition and classification for heart failure (HF) was published simultaneously in the Journal of Cardiac Failure and the European Journal of Heart Failure. This document was produced by the European, North American, and Japanese Heart Failure Societies and was endorsed by the Canadian, Indian, Chinese, Australian, and New Zealand HF Societies. The objectives of the publication were to provide a universal, simple, and comprehensive definition that can guarantee standardization in clinical research, guidelines, and treatment, as well as guidance for patients and public policy makers. It also proposed a revised classification based on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to guide therapy according to HF category, and, finally, to revise the HF stages, aiming at both prognosis and prevention.

HF has been defined in Cardiology textbooks as a clinical syndrome characterized by the heart’s inability to pump enough blood to meet the body’s metabolic demands. However, this pathophysiological profile is only found in advanced stages of HF. Definitions vary in the guidelines of different Societies and also diverge from textbooks, including the concept of signs and symptoms associated with hemodynamic and neurohormonal abnormalities, which are neither simple nor easily measurable.

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