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3.1: Introduction

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    42733
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    History

    In 1628, William Harvey first described the circulation. Before this time, there was very little understanding of the nature of heart failure (HF). There are, however, accounts of a disease that now would be called heart failure, and herbal medicines such as the ancient boiled bulb of squill, or, later on, the broom plant (Cytisus scoparius) and the foxglove (Digitalis purpura) were used as diuretics to treat heart failure or dropsy (edema). Foxglove was described as a diuretic by William Withering in 1785.[1] The essential glycoside substance digitalis of the leaves of the plant improves contractility of the cardiac muscle and has important parasympathetic effects, particularly on the atrioventricular node. In the 1950s, thiazide diuretics were introduced, and in the 1960s furosemide became available. For a long time, diuretics and digitalis were the main treatment options for HF. Vasodilator therapy for HF was introduced around 1960, and the first randomized trial showing a mortality benefit with nitrates and alphablockers for HF was published in 1986. In 1975, the first ACE inhibitor, captopril, was developed and it was approved for human use in 1981, with data from the first randomized trial being published in 1987. Spironolacton, introduced in 1959, was used (in low dose) for HF only after the introduction of ACE inhibitors. Beta blockers were hardly used in heart failure even though they were shown to beneficial in the 1970s. It was only in 1994 that data from the first randomized trial demonstrated a mortality benefit with beta blocker therapy.

    150px-Foxglove_(digitalis).png.jpeg
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): oxglove (digitalis), used as a medicine for heart failure.

     

    Framingham heart study

    In 1948, the Framingham heart study was launched. At its start, 5209 residents of the town Framingham in the USA, aged between 30 and 62 years, were included in the study in an attempt to determine risk factors for cardiac disease. The study is still in progress today and long term data from the lengthy follow up have been published. This study is considered to be the most important longitudinal source of data on the epidemiology of heart failure[2].


    This page titled 3.1: Introduction is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by de Jong and van der Waals Eds. (Cardionetworks Foundation and the Health[e]Foundation) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.