Rationale and Design of the DECONGEST (Diuretic Treatment in Acute Heart Failure with Volume Overload Guided by Serial Spot Urine Sodium Assessment) Study
The prevalence of hospital admissions for heart failure is primarily attributed to signs and symptoms of fluid overload.1 During acute heart failure (AHF) episodes, diuretics are the mainstay treatment. Effective diuretic action leading to complete decongestion consistently correlates with improved outcomes.2 However, achieving these targets poses challenges in clinical practice due to frequent occurrences of diuretic resistance and the difficulty in confirming optimal volume status. This explains why clinical outcomes after an episode of AHF remain dismal, with recent European registry data demonstrating a 1-year readmission rate of 44.4% (25.9% for readmissions due to heart failure only) and an all-cause mortality of 26.7%.
