Founded in 1994 and based in Bangalore, ICC is a non-profit organization that conducts academic meetings, Continuing Medical Education (CME) Courses and public education programs all over India on a regular basis.
The correlation between the improvements that have been made in the treatment of coronary artery disease, and the incidence of heart failure is intriguingly counter intuitive. Heart failure has increased rather than decreased and needs careful investigation.
There is paucity of good and reliable data in India on heart failure in the country and once a true and meaningful national data is available, the identification of risk factors, available treatment options, and challenges in management could be addressed.
A study monitoring progress of live cases over a period of time along with data storage and analysis may reveal the causes. Such data would need to include the incidence, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment patterns. The study has to encompass a population diverse in geography, age, gender, and socio-economic class. It is important for the study to also track the incidence of co-morbid risk factors in the study group, including diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.
The large-scale studies undertaken by heart failure registries in the developed world along with smaller-scale India specific studies have definitely contributed to a better understanding of heart failure. While this information is helpful in formulating plans to address relevant issues in India it is not sufficient to understand the diverse treatment patterns and issues across various geographical areas in India. Therefore a patient’s experience in a state like Kerala, with high literacy rates and decent access to health care in both private and government hospitals is vastly different from that experienced a state like West Bengal. The intent of this study is to have representative groups from all over the country by enrolling local centers.
This would be achieved in phases.
