Implementation of effective preventive interventions requires identification of high-risk individuals. We sought to define the distribution and trends of heart failure risk in the US population.
We calculated 10-year predicted heart failure risk among a representative sample of US adults aged 30-79 years, without baseline cardiovascular disease, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 1999-2016. We used the published Pooled Cohort Equations to Prevent Heart Failure (PCP-HF) model, which integrates demographic and risk factor data, to estimate 10-year heart failure risk. Participants were stratified by NHANES cycle, sex, age and race/ethnicity and by 10-year heart failure risk, defined as as low (<1%), intermediate (1% to <5%), and high (≥5%).
From 1999-2000 to 2015-2016, mean predicted 10-year heart failure risk increased significantly from 2.0% to 3.0% (p < 0.05) in the population, most notably among non-Hispanic black (2.1% to 3.7%) and non-Hispanic white (2.4 to 3.6) men. In 2013-2016, 17.6% of the studied population was at high predicted 10-year heart failure risk. The prevalence of high predicted heart failure risk was highest among non-Hispanic black men (23.1%), followed by non-Hispanic white men (19.2%) and non-Hispanic white women (17.9%).
Mean population risk of heart failure increased significantly from 1999-2016. A substantial proportion of US adults are at high 10-year heart failure risk (≥5%), particularly non-Hispanic black men. These data underscore the importance of identifiying individuals at increased heart failure risk for targeted prevention measures to reduce the future burden of heart failure.

Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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