Management of Heart Failure in Advancing CKD: Core Curriculum 2018

Heart failure and chronic kidney disease have increasing incidence and prevalence owing in part to the aging population and increasing rates of hypertension, diabetes, and other cardiovascular and kidney disease risk factors. The presence of one condition also has a strong influence on the other, leading to greater risks for hospitalization, morbidity, and death, as well as very high health care costs. Despite the frequent coexistence of heart failure and chronic kidney disease, many of the pivotal randomized trials that guide the management of heart failure have excluded patients with more advanced stages of chronic kidney disease. In this Core Curriculum article, management of a challenging, yet not unusual, case of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in a patient with stage 4 chronic kidney disease provides an opportunity to review the relevant literature and highlight gaps in our knowledge.