A major French study published in the European Heart Journal reveals that two out of five patients with heart failure do not see a cardiologist even once a year—a gap linked to significantly higher mortality rates. The study, involving over 655,000 patients and presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2025, found that patients who had at least one cardiologist visit annually were 24% less likely to die in the following year.
Led by Dr. Guillaume Baudry and Professor Nicolas Girerd from Nancy University Hospital, the research used national health data to analyze outcomes based on cardiology visits, hospitalizations, and the use of diuretics. The findings suggest that more regular cardiologist consultations could dramatically reduce mortality—by nearly half in some high-risk groups.
For instance, patients recently hospitalized for heart failure who saw a cardiologist four times a year had their risk of death cut from 34.3% to 18.2%. Even stable patients not taking diuretics benefited from at least one annual visit, which reduced their risk from 13% to 6.7%. Simple criteria—recent hospitalization and diuretic use—were effective in stratifying patients’ risk and guiding the optimal frequency of follow-up.
Despite these findings, access remains uneven. Women and older patients, as well as those with other chronic conditions, were significantly less likely to receive cardiology care. A secondary analysis showed that 33.8% of women and 27.9% of men failed to see a cardiologist within a year, although women still had better overall outcomes.
Experts emphasize the need for systemic changes, suggesting cardiology referrals become routine in heart failure care—similar to cancer pathways. They argue that relying solely on primary care may compromise heart failure management, given its complexity. The researchers plan to test their findings in a clinical trial and explore international applicability. As Professor Lars Lund of Sweden noted, decades of innovation in heart failure treatment are ineffective if patients cannot access or benefit from them.
