Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have discovered heart failure patients registered in the Swedish Heart Failure Registry receive better medication and have a lower risk of death than unregistered patients.
Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood throughout the body and is associated with a high risk of death.
Healthcare registries allow doctors and hospitals to keep track of a patient's medical conditions, medications and medical procedures. The Swedish Heart Failure Registry, or RiksSvikt, compiles clinical and treatment data for patients with heart failure from hospitals in Sweden.
The study analyzed data from 231,437 patients diagnosed with heart failure in Sweden between 2006 and 2013 and found that patients in the voluntary registry had a 35 percent lower risk of death than unregistered patients.
"Now we also see that in heart failure, quality reporting translates directly into better survival," Lars H. Lund, associate professor at Karolinska Institute's Department of Medicine and lead author of the study, said in a press release. "It is imperative that the investment in registries from the government, hospitals and clinicians continues to expand, as this will lead to better patient survival."
The study also found patients registered in RiksSvikt were more likely to receive heart failure medications than unregistered patients, contributing to the difference in survival rates.
"There are several common treatments for heart failure which are known to cost-effectively reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, but these are underutilized," Lund said.
The study was published in the European Journal of Heart Failure.
