Researchers have identified shortness of breath while bending over as a new potential heart failure symptom.
UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists define this symptom as "bendopnea". Since this symptom is easily detectable, it can help doctors diagnose excessive fluid retention in patients with heart failure, according to a news release.
"Some patients thought they were short of breath because they were out of shape or overweight, but we wondered if there was something more to it. So we developed this study to further investigate this symptom," said Dr. Jennifer Thibodeau, assistant professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, in a statement.
Thibodeau clarified that bendopnea is not a risk factor but an indication that heart failure patients are getting sick and may need medical attention soon. It is more of a precaution symptom, alerting patients to seek medical help before it is too late. It can also help both doctor and patients recognize something may be amiss with their current heart failure treatment.
People, especially heart failure patients, should immediately contact their doctors if they are experiencing this symptom, the researcher suggested. 102 patients who were referred to the cardiac catheterization lab for right heart catheterization were enrolled in the study and researchers found that nearly one-third of the subjects had bendopnea.
"We discovered that patients with bendopnea had too much fluid in their bodies, causing elevated pressures, and when they bent forward, these pressures increased even more," said Dr. Thibodeau.
According to the CDC, about 5.7 million people in the United States have heart failure. About half of people who develop heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis. The heart condition costs the nation an estimated $32 billion each year.
Among these 5.7 million people, about 10 percent have advanced heart failure, according to the American Heart Association. Advance heart failure is when conventional heart therapies and symptom management strategies no longer work.
Heart failure happens when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to support other organs in the body. Heart failure is a serious condition, but it does not mean that the heart has stopped beating. The number of elderly people developing heart failure is increasing in industrial countries, especially in the United States. Researchers at Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia reported that the number of older patients hospitalized for heart failure has more than doubled in the last 27 years in the USA.
Another U.S. study found that Afro-Americans are 20 times more likely to develop heart failure before the age of 50 compared to Caucasian-Americans.
The new study was funded by the James M. Wooten Chair in Cardiology. Findings were published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure.
