Acute Heart Failure Study in Patients Admitted to Emergency Department for Dyspnea

There is no recommendation of the French Society of Emergency Medicine (SFMU) on the management of the acute heart failure in the emergency department.

The present study hypothesizes that identifying anamnestic and clinical criteria of AHF in patients admitted to emergency department for acute dyspnea would optimize the management of these patients upon arrival to the emergency department and to implement rapidly the appropriate therapeutic strategies.

All patients admitted for dyspnea will be enrolled by the emergency physicians (after verification of inclusion and exclusion criteria) in the 3 participating centers.

Then, all files will be analyzed retrospectively from information collected by a committee of experts cardiologists and emergency physicians of each center.

The primary objective is the evaluation of diagnostic predictive value of different anamnestic and clinical signs for the diagnosis of AHF in emergency department for the construction of a clinical prediction score of acute heart failure. The secondary objective is the description of the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients admitted to the emergency for acute dyspnea.

Inclusion criteria

• patients ≥ 18 years
• Admitted to emergency department for acute dyspnea

Exclusion criteria

• Traumatic dyspnea
• shock / Systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg