Pharmacy Clinical Pearl of the Day: Heart Failure Disease Definition of Severity

Clinical Pearl of the Day: Heart Failure disease definition of severity

Ejection fraction (EF) refers to how well your heart—mainly left ventricle or right ventricle—pumps blood with each heartbeat.

Definitions of severity:

1. Preserved EF is 50%
2. Mildly reduced is EF 40%-49% (also called midrange i.e. HFmrEF)
3. Moderately reduced is EF 30%-39%
4. Severely reduced is EF ˂ 30%
5. Heart failure improved EF (HFimpEF)
   1. Baseline LVEF of 40% or less, with increase of at least 10 points from baseline LVEF and a second measurement of LVEF of greater than 40%

Explanation:

• Its important for the patients with heart failure to know how much their EF is, and for health care providers to measure the EF for these patients on regular basis.
• EF can be measured with imaging tests, such as echocardiogram.

Reference: 2021 Update to the 2017 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for Optimization of Heart Failure Treatment: Answers to 10 Pivotal Issues About Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Solution Set Oversight Committee | Journal of the American College of Cardiology (jacc.org)