Other heart failure admissions are often associated with atrial fibrillation or heart valve disease as well with presentations of cardiomyopathies and myocarditis. Heart failure commonly co-exists with other co-morbidities including hypertension, diabetes, ischaemic heart diseases, atrial fibrillation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 74 . The risk of heart failure is higher in men than in women in all age groups, but there are more women than men with heart failure due to population demographics. Heart failure is also more common in groups with higher indices of social deprivation. There are few reliable data for other ethnic groups but people of African or Afro-Caribbean origin are more likely to develop heart failure due to hypertension58 rather than coronary artery disease, whereas those of Asian origin have a greater risk of developing heart failure due to coronary artery disease often associated with obesity and diabetes mellitus39 . The importance of heart failure was recognised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Heart Disease Inquiry into Living with Heart Failure which issued 10 suggestions for improvement in care for patients with heart failure9 . Heart failure accounts for a total of 1 million inpatient bed days 2% of all NHS inpatient bed-days and 5% of all emergency medical admissions to hospital. Hospital Chronic Heart Failure Introduction NICE 2018. All rights reserved. Subject to Notice of rights. ISBN: 978-1-4731-3093-7 admissions due to heart failure are projected to rise by 50% over the next 25 years largely due to ageing of the population. This is despite a progressive decline in the age-adjusted hospitalisation rates at 1-1.5% per annum since 1992-1993235 . It is estimated that the total annual cost of heart failure to the NHS is around 2% of the total NHS budget: approximately 70% of this total is due to the . 