LAUSR

Prevention Prevention of heart failure (HF) has been recently reviewed.1 Banerjee et al.2 performed a systematic analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies to identify risk factors for HF. Among 92 risk factors analysed, hypertension, stable and unstable angina, myocardial infarction, diabetes, smoking and obesity as well as atrial arrhythmias, cancer and heavy alcohol intake, though not supported by RCTs, were associated with a higher rate of incident HF. In the 5 years prior to HF diagnosis, 44.3% of patients had ≥4 risk factors. These data are consistent with recent studies focused on risk factors for HF.1,3,4 Assessment of left atrial (LA) function has a major role in the management of HF patients.5,6 A recent study investigated echocardiographic parameters related to LA function and their predictive value for incident HF in a large general population, without atrial fibrillation or significant valvular heart disease (VHD) at baseline. Out of 1951 participants, 187 (10%) developed HF. After multivariable adjustment, only the minimum LA volume indexed to body surface area was found to be an independent predictor of incident HF.7