Evaluating dyspnoea in acute heart failure: progress at last!

This editorial refers to ‘The impact of early standard therapy on dyspnoea in patients with acute heart failure: the URGENT-dyspnoea study’[†][1], by A. Mebazaa et al. on page 832 It is remarkable how little we know about dyspnoea, the most common symptom experienced by patients with acute heart failure.1,2 The innovative and important study reported by Mebazaa et al. makes for fascinating reading and raises important questions for clinical research and also for clinical practice.3 We simply do not know how to measure dyspnoea in acute heart failure and whether the commonly used instruments are sensitive to change, i.e. able to detect the effect of treatment.1 Indeed, there are few studies on this question in chronic heart failure either.4 Despite this, the scientific community, industry, and regulators have already tested and rejected new treatments, at least partly on the basis of failing to improve dyspnoea more … *Corresponding author. Tel: +44 141 330 3479, Fax: +44 141 330 6955, Email: j.mcmurray{at}bio.gla.ac.uk [1]: #fn-1