References
The role of the heart failure nurse and use of sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors
Abstract
Diabetes significantly increases the morbidity and mortality faced by patients with heart failure. Sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors can improve glycaemic control and reduce mortality. They can also improve the cardiovascular risk profile as well as act as a diuretic and reduce hospital admissions because of heart failure. This article will review how these medications work, their place in the treatment of heart failure and the patient education needed before starting these medications. The article will also discuss the role played by heart failure specialist nurses in prescribing and monitoring the impact of these medications on patients. The article concludes with a horizon scan of the potential future implications of these medications for heart failure specialist nurses
In developed countries, heart failure affects 1–2% of the population; but in those aged >70 years, this figure rises to >10% (Ponikowski et al, 2016). Heart failure confers substantial morbidity (Mogensen et al, 2011; Mentz et al, 2014; Baron-Franco et al, 2017) and reduced life expectancy (Mogensen et al, 2011; Taylor et al, 2019), as well as significant cost to health services (National Clinical Guideline Centre, 2010; Braunschweig et al, 2011).
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common comorbidity seen in patients with heart failure with a prevalence of around 30% in chronic heart failure (Seferovic´ et al, 2018). Regardless of the type of heart failure they have, people with diabetes will likely have a worse New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, experience more heart failure symptoms and have poorer quality of life than the equivalent patient who does not have diabetes (Suskin et al, 2000; Kristensen et al, 2016, 2017), and have a higher mortality rate (Dauriz et al, 2017; Seferovic et al, 2018).
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