The health of a spouse does not impact patient outcomes after heart failure (HF) diagnosis; however, after a patient with HF dies, their surviving spouse’s risk of hospitalization and death increases. This according to a study of 905 patients that were married at the time of incident HF diagnosis from 2000 to 2012. The objective was to describe the health of spouses of married patients with HF, and examine whether the health of a spouse impacts patient outcomes. Researchers found:

• Spouses of patients with HF were elderly (mean age, 71 years), often had comorbid conditions, and 16% had difficulty with ≥1 activities of daily living.
• There were no independent associations of spousal health and patient risk of death or hospitalization after HF diagnosis after adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidity.
• However, the risk of hospitalization (adjusted HR, 1.34) and death (HR, 2.10) increased in the surviving spouse after patient death.