The graph below illustrates the scale of the healthcare issues presented by multiple conditions.
Learning to live with a long-term complex condition can be challenging. Those diagnosed with a progressive life limiting cardiac condition, such as heart failure‚ face living with symptoms which fluctuate, often with episodes of severe deterioration which may lead to sudden death (figure 3). The condition trajectory, therefore, tends to differ from other long term conditions such as cancer, where there is generally a period of decline, or dementia where there is progressive functional deterioration. In this respect, learning to live with ‘uncertainty’ becomes part of the adjustment process.
The Heart Failure Illness Trajectory
Page last reviewed: 25 Sep 2020
