Undertreatment of heart failure has high cost to patients

EDITOR—Chronic heart failure remains a serious public health problem. The diagnosis constitutes a high risk of morbidity and mortality, with a prognosis that is at least as bad as many forms of cancer. Despite this, a high proportion of people with symptoms and signs of chronic heart failure are undiagnosed, and of those who are, many are undertreated.1 The evidence in support of treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, β blockers, and, most recently, spironolactone, is compelling.2 It follows, therefore, …