The Tip of the Iceberg
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Tip of the Iceberg: Identifying Patients with Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) in Primary Care
IRAS ID
204460
Contact name
Christi Deaton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 18 days
Research summary
Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which the heart is not working effectively as a pump, resulting in breathlessness and fatigue. In about half of the people with HF this occurs because the heart has become stiff and does not relax and easily fill with returning blood from the body. This is known as HF with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). HFpEF is difficult to diagnose even with an echocardiogram, and experts disagree about diagnosing it. Because HFpEF is more difficult to identify, patients with HFpEF may not be diagnosed. It is important to identify people with HFpEF as although there are few treatment options compared to other types of HF, patients benefit from control of blood pressure and other conditions, and may need diuretics. A few studies have shown that people with HFpEF benefit from exercise training and studies of new treatments need to be able to recruit patients. People with HFpEF have similar rates of hospital admissions as people with other types of HF. In this study, we will review anonymised data from patients on the HF registers of 3-6 practices to determine the information available for patients and whether we can identify patients with HFpEF, or whether patients would need additional evaluation. A practice nurse will extract the information so that the patient’s personal information is protected. This information will tell us how many patients on HF registers have been diagnosed with HFpEF, how many additional patients may have HFpEF, and what would be needed to identify and characterise patients with HFpEF in primary care for better management and recruitment into studies.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0444
Date of REC Opinion
31 May 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion