Shared care helps reduce mortality in patients with heart failure

Patients with newly diagnosed congestive heart failure who were followed up by both specialists and family doctors had lower one year mortality than those who saw only family doctors or had no specific cardiovascular follow up care, a Canadian study has found.

Of a total of 3136 patients discharged from 128 acute care hospitals in Alberta between April 1998 and July 2000 (median age 76 years; 50% men), 1062 (34%) received no follow up visits for cardiovascular care. Of the remainder, 738 (24%) were seen by a family doctor alone, 29 (1%) by a specialist (cardiologist or general internist) alone, and 1307 (42%) by a specialist and a family …