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Heart failure hospitalization in Romania – A national multiannual study based on administrative dataset collection Cover

Heart failure hospitalization in Romania – A national multiannual study based on administrative dataset collection

Romanian Journal of Cardiology
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By: Ovidiu Chioncel,  Dragos Vinereanu,  Dan Dobreanu,  Nona Chiriac,  Antoniu Octavian Petris,  Andi Dinita,  Daniel Lighezan and  Bogdan A. Popescu  
Open Access
|Mar 2026

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

A. Hospital cases, all cases, and HF* cases, time period 2017–2022 (thousands); B. Unique patients, all patients, and HF* patients, time period 2017–2022 (thousands). *ICD-10 code for Heart Failure diagnosis I50.0, I50.1, I50.9, I11.0. Prooortions represent percentages out of all cases or all oatients.
A. Hospital cases, all cases, and HF* cases, time period 2017–2022 (thousands); B. Unique patients, all patients, and HF* patients, time period 2017–2022 (thousands). *ICD-10 code for Heart Failure diagnosis I50.0, I50.1, I50.9, I11.0. Prooortions represent percentages out of all cases or all oatients.

Figure 2

A. Comparison between 2017–2019 vs. 2020 for total hospitalizations; B. HF hospitalization (any cause); C. HF hospitalizations with HF as primary diagnosis. “For each panel (A, B, and C) in Figure 2, odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to compare hospitalization volumes during the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019) with those during the pandemic period (2020–2022). ORs <1 indicate a reduction in hospitalizations during 2020–2022 compared with the 2017–2019 reference period.” Abbreviations: OR=odd ratio; CI =confidence interval
A. Comparison between 2017–2019 vs. 2020 for total hospitalizations; B. HF hospitalization (any cause); C. HF hospitalizations with HF as primary diagnosis. “For each panel (A, B, and C) in Figure 2, odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to compare hospitalization volumes during the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019) with those during the pandemic period (2020–2022). ORs <1 indicate a reduction in hospitalizations during 2020–2022 compared with the 2017–2019 reference period.” Abbreviations: OR=odd ratio; CI =confidence interval

Figure 3

HF patients by age group, period 2017–2022.
HF patients by age group, period 2017–2022.

Figure 4

A. Annual in-hospital mortality rates; comparison of “all cases” vs. “HF cases” (p<0.001 for each year); B. In-hospital mortality HF cases by decade of age; comparison of 2017–2019 vs. 2020–2022 (p<0.001 for age category >25 years). *p=0.06
A. Annual in-hospital mortality rates; comparison of “all cases” vs. “HF cases” (p<0.001 for each year); B. In-hospital mortality HF cases by decade of age; comparison of 2017–2019 vs. 2020–2022 (p<0.001 for age category >25 years). *p=0.06

Figure 5

Frequency of readmissions for each annual cohort of patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of HF for 2017–2021; HF readmission frequency for any reason; and for HF primary diagnosis.
Frequency of readmissions for each annual cohort of patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of HF for 2017–2021; HF readmission frequency for any reason; and for HF primary diagnosis.

Number of hospitals included in the analysis, number of hospitals reporting DRG data, and number of hospitals reporting one-year readmission frequencies_

Year201720182019202020212022
Total number of hospitals in Romania*535524532541543544
Number of hospitals reporting DRG data505508517514526528
Number of hospitals reporting HF readmission frequencies356352357345348363
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjc-2026-0005 | Journal eISSN: 2734-6382 | Journal ISSN: 1220-658X
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Language: English
Published on: Mar 2, 2026
Published by: Romanian Society of Cardiology
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year
Keywords:
heart failure,
hospitalization,
mortality,
retrospective study,
COVID-19
Related subjects:
Medicine,
Clinical medicine,
Internal medicine,
Cardiology,
Surgery,
Cardiac surgery,
Pediatrics and juvenile medicine,
Paediatric cardiology

© 2026 Ovidiu Chioncel, Dragos Vinereanu, Dan Dobreanu, Nona Chiriac, Antoniu Octavian Petris, Andi Dinita, Daniel Lighezan, Bogdan A. Popescu, published by Romanian Society of Cardiology
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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