Impact of heart failure on Canadian society
Our aging and growing population is already taxing healthcare services. Many people don’t have a family doctor to turn to for regular monitoring, leaving a huge gap in prevention care. With limited awareness and understanding of heart failure among Canadians, the urgency for people to adopt healthy lifestyle habits can get lost. The projected burden on healthcare – $2.8 billion by 2030 – is alarming.
Consider the growing incidence of risk factors for heart failure. Obesity affects more than 25 per cent of adults in Canada, based on self-reported height and weight data,
according to Statistics Canada
. And obesity rates in children and youth have more than tripled in the last 30 years, setting them up for other risk factors for heart failure, like high blood pressure and diabetes. High blood pressure affects an estimated one in four adults and roughly 10 per cent of people have been diagnosed with diabetes. Smoking and alcohol use are also linked to heart failure.
COVID-19, as we saw during the pandemic, can damage the linings of blood vessels and cause inflammation of the heart muscle in some people, which can lead to heart failure.
Researchers have also looked at the impact on patients and caregivers’ quality of life, noting social isolation, mental health concerns and financial strain. “Heart failure management is complex and requires daily coordination of and adherence to multiple medications and a set of lifestyle changes related to dietary restrictions, fluid intake, exercise and weight monitoring. Frequent healthcare appointments – across several different provider types – are often necessary for heart failure patients. Caregivers play an important role in day-to-day heart failure management and existing evidence suggests that the heart failure treatment journey is challenging for patients and caregivers alike,”
authors note in a qualitative study published in Plus One in March 2021
.