New heart failure guidelines shift the goalposts
This latest advice is at odds with international guidance
2nd August 2018
By Clare Pain
NEWS IN BRIEF
Controversial new heart failure guidelines, published on Thursday, have shifted the goalposts for classifying heart failure, ignoring RACGP warnings that it may result in overdiagnosis.
The new advice is that heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) should be defined as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) less than 50%, whereas it was previously classified as LVEF under 40%.
“Overall this is a well-developed and good guideline, but it still contains the problem of the goalpost having been shifted in a way that’s different to