HF Classi cations Both the ACCF/AHA stages of HF (37) and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classi cation (37,38) provide useful and complementary information about the presence and severity of HF. The ACCF/AHA stages of HF emphasize the development and progression of disease and can be used to describe individuals and populations, whereas the NYHA classes focus on exercise capacity and the symptomatic status of the disease (Table 4). Yancy et al. JACC Vol. 62, No. 16, 2013 2013 ACCF/AHA Heart Failure Guidelines: Executive Summary October 15, 2013:1495 539 The lifetime risk of developing HF is 20% for Americans 40 years of age (39). In the United States, HF incidence has largely remained stable over the past several decades, with >650 ,000 new HF cases diagnosed annually (40 42). HF incidence increases with age, rising from approximately 20 per 1,000 individuals 65 to 69 years of age to >80 per 1,000 individuals among those 85 years of age (41). Approximately 5.1 million persons in the United States have clinically manifest HF, and the Table 2. 