Specialty-related differences in the epidemiology, clinical profile, management and outcome of patients hospitalized for heart failure. The OSCUR study

Aims This study was designed to identify potential specialty-related differences in the epidemiology, clinical profile, management and outcome of patients hospitalized for congestive heart failure in departments of cardiology or internal medicine. Methods and Results From 1 July to 31 December 1998, we prospectively recorded epidemiological and clinical data from patients with congestive heart failure consecutively admitted to 11 departments of cardiology and 12 departments of internal medicine in Liguria, a northern area of Italy. The overall study population included 749 patients; 22% were treated by cardiologists and 78% by internists (P