Clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised with acute decompensated heart failure during the pre-intervention and post-intervention period
| Variable | Pre-intervention period (n=149) | Post-intervention period (n=108) | P value |
| Age, years | 71.4±5.6 | 72.1±5.7 | 0.39 |
| Men | 72 (48.3%) | 52 (48.1%) | 0.98 |
| Hospital setting | 0.57 | ||
| Ward | 135 (90.6%) | 100 (92.6%) | |
| Intensive care unit | 14 (9.4%) | 8 (7.4%) | |
| Comorbid conditions | |||
| Hypertension | 122 (81.9%) | 90 (83.3%) | 0.76 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 102 (68.5%) | 69 (63.9%) | 0.44 |
| Ischaemic heart disease | 71 (47.7%) | 51 (47.2%) | 0.95 |
| Peripheral arterial disease | 33 (22.1%) | 23 (21.3%) | 0.87 |
| Stroke | 16 (10.7%) | 10 (9.3%) | 0.69 |
| End-stage kidney disease | 3 (2.0%) | 2 (1.9%) | 0.93 |
| Cancer | 1 (0.7%) | 1 (0.9%) | 0.82 |
| Chronic respiratory failure | 4 (2.7%) | 3 (2.8%) | 0.96 |
| Left ventricular ejection fraction ≤40% | 96 (64.4%) | 62 (57.4%) | 0.25 |
| NYHA heart failure class | <0.001 | ||
| I | 1 (0.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| II | 22 (14.8%) | 51 (47.2%) | |
| III | 112 (75.2%) | 47 (43.5%) | |
| IV | 14 (9.4%) | 10 (9.3%) | |
| ACC/AHA heart failure stage C–D | 38 (25.5%) | 9 (0.1%) | <0.001 |
| ≥1 hospitalisation for acute decompensated heart failure in the prior 6 months | 12 (8.1%) | 16 (14.8%) | 0.09 |
ACC/AHA, American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association; NYHA, New York Heart Association.