Gailson L, Singh A, Pradhan A, Prajapathi S, Choudhary R, Bhandari M, Vishwakarma P, Shukla A, Sharma A, Chaudhary G, Chandra S, Sethi R, Dwivedi SK. Demographic and clinical profile of patients with heart failure at a tertiary care hospital. World J Cardiol 2026; 18(4): 117928 [DOI: 10.4330/wjc.v18.i4.117928]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Akshyaya Pradhan, MD, DM, Professor, Department of Cardiology, King George’s Medical University, Shahmina Road, Chowk, Lucknow 226003, Uttar Pradesh, India. akshyaya33@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Apr 26, 2026 (publication date) through Apr 14, 2026
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Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Cardiology
ISSN
1949-8462
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Gailson L, Singh A, Pradhan A, Prajapathi S, Choudhary R, Bhandari M, Vishwakarma P, Shukla A, Sharma A, Chaudhary G, Chandra S, Sethi R, Dwivedi SK. Demographic and clinical profile of patients with heart failure at a tertiary care hospital. World J Cardiol 2026; 18(4): 117928 [DOI: 10.4330/wjc.v18.i4.117928]
Lotos Gailson, Abhishek Singh, Akshyaya Pradhan, Rajeev Choudhary, Monika Bhandari, Pravesh Vishwakarma, Ayush Shukla, Akhil Sharma, Gaurav Chaudhary, Sharad Chandra, Rishi Sethi, Sudhanshu Kumar Dwivedi, Department of Cardiology, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow 226003, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sudesh Prajapathi, Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal 462026, Madhya Pradesh, India
Co-first authors: Lotos Gailson and Abhishek Singh.
Author contributions: Gailson L and Singh A equally contributed to this manuscript and are co-first authors. Gailson L and Pradhan A conceived the project; Gailson L, Singh A and Pradhan A were involved in data collection; Bhandari M, Vishwakarma P and Gailson L were instrumental in data organization and collation; Gailson L, Shukla A and Pradhan A performed the statistical analysis; Sharma A, Pradhan A and Chaudhary G performed literature search; Gailson L, Chandra S and Prajapathi S prepared the first draft; Chandra S and Sethi R critically reviewed the manuscript; Dwivedi SK, Sethi R and Pradhan A approved the final version; Pradhan A performed the journal search and submitted the initial version to journal.
Institutional review board statement: Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of King George’s Medical University prior to the commencement of the study, No. 83/Ethics/2020.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided informed written consent in English or Hindi, as per their preference.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Data is available with the corresponding author and can be shared on request.
Corresponding author: Akshyaya Pradhan, MD, DM, Professor, Department of Cardiology, King George’s Medical University, Shahmina Road, Chowk, Lucknow 226003, Uttar Pradesh, India. akshyaya33@gmail.com
Received: December 18, 2025 Revised: January 14, 2026 Accepted: March 9, 2026 Published online: April 26, 2026 Processing time: 116 Days and 10.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Heart failure (HF) is prevalent worldwide; however, due to the absence of a dedicated monitoring system in India, an adequate assessment of epidemiological trends in HF remains unaccomplished. Determining the profile of patients with HF facilitates early detection and therapy, minimising the disease burden.
AIM
To describe the demographics, clinical characteristics, haematological and biochemical parameters, electrocardiogram and echocardiogram findings and recognise the various causes of HF in India.
METHODS
This was an observational study conducted between May 2019 and December 2020 at a tertiary-care institution in North India. Consecutive adult patients with clinically stable chronic HF were enrolled. Demographic characteristics, clinical features, laboratory parameters, electrocardiographic findings, echocardiographic data, and HF etiology were recorded using a standardised questionnaire.
RESULTS
This study enrolled a total of 407 chronic HF patients with a mean age of 58.8 years, 64.4% of whom were male. The mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 38.47%. Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of HF, accounting for 53.6% of the population. Diabetes was the most prevalent linked co-morbidity (28.6%), followed by hypertension (21.5%). The majority of individuals had HF with reduced ejection fraction (58.5%), and the most frequent presenting symptom was exertional dyspnea. Complete guideline-directed medical therapy, defined as concurrent use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker, beta blocker, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (in any dose), was achieved in 64% of patients. Newer therapies like angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors were prescribed in only 6.6% of patients. Of 95.6% patients were in sinus rhythm (atrial fibrillation in 4.4%). The other findings included left bundle branch block (21.1%), left anterior hemiblock with right bundle branch block (10.2%), and right bundle branch block (7.6%).
CONCLUSION
HF in this cohort occurred at a younger age and was predominantly ischemic in etiology, with most patients having HF with reduced ejection fraction. Despite reasonable guideline-directed medical therapy prescription rates, suboptimal dosing and low uptake of newer therapies highlight the need for structured HF care and improved access to evidence-based treatment in India.
Core Tip: Heart failure (HF) in India represents a growing public health challenge, affecting patients at a younger age and predominantly driven by ischemic heart disease. In this hospital-based study from North India, most patients had HF with reduced ejection fraction and a high burden of diabetes and hypertension. Although prescription rates of guideline-directed medical therapy were relatively high, only 64% of patients received all three foundational HF drugs, and uptake of newer therapies such as angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors was low. These findings highlight critical gaps in surveillance, early risk factor control, and optimisation of evidence-based HF care in India.
