Patient differences related to management in general practice and the hospital: a cross-sectional study of heart failure in the community

Aim To compare patients treated for heart failure in relation to the management in general practices versus hospital admission. Methods and results Twelve randomly selected general practices (GP) were screened for patients receiving ACE-inhibitor, digoxin, or loop diuretic treatment. The first 500 volunteers of 959 potential subjects were invited to a cardiac examination after exclusion of 235 frail, physically or mentally disabled patients. A diagnosis of heart failure during hospital admission (Hospital-HF, n=102) was more related (p