Who Is At Risk for Heart Failure?

Heart failure can happen to anyone, but it’s more common in:

• People 65 years of age and older
• African Americans

Heart failure is very common in people 65 years of age and older. It’s the #1 reason for a hospital visit in this age group.

African Americans are more likely to have heart failure and suffer more severely from it. African Americans are more likely to:

• Develop symptoms at an earlier age
• Have their heart failure get worse faster
• Have more hospital visits
• Die from heart failure

Men have a higher rate of heart failure than women. But in actual numbers, more women have heart failure because many more women live into their seventies and eighties, when heart failure is common.

Children with congenital heart defects can also have heart failure. Congenital heart defects happen when the heart, heart valves, and/or blood vessels near the heart do not develop correctly in babies when they are in the womb. This can weaken the heart muscle and lead to heart failure. Children do not have the same symptoms or get the same treatment for heart failure as adults. Children’s heart failure will not be discussed here.