Incidence

In the United States, the condition is on the rise. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) calls congestive heart failure in the United States a "new epidemic" and states that visits to doctors' offices for heart failure increased from 1.7 million in 1980 to 2.9 million in 1993. Congestive heart failure is the first-listed diagnosis in 875,000 hospitalizations and the most common diagnosis in hospital patients over age 65.

The NIH reports that the incidence of heart failure is twice as common in people with high blood pressure compared with people who don't have the condition. NIH studies also indicate that congestive heart failure is equally frequent in men and women, and annual incidence approaches ten per 1,000 people after 65 years of age.

One study reported in 1996 by the American Heart Association found that high blood pressure was the most common risk factor for congestive heart failure. The study involved 5,143 men and women between the ages of 40 and 89. The participants were free of the condition when the study started and researchers followed their health for up to 20 years. During the period of study, 392 of the participants developed heart failure. Of these people, 91 percent developed high blood pressure before they were diagnosed with heart failure.