Heart Failure Comorbidities: How Sticking to Your Treatment Plan Can Help

It’s common for people with a heart condition to experience other health problems. Having two or more conditions at the same time is known as having a comorbidity. For heart failure, there are many common comorbidities, but they’re not necessarily inevitable.

Having better control of your heart failure may help prevent or manage comorbidities. That’s one reason why sticking to your heart failure treatment is so important.

What are comorbidities of heart failure?

There are certain conditions that are more likely to co-occur with heart failure. Common comorbidities of heart failure include:

1. Type 2 diabetes

Heart failure and type 2 diabetes have a close relationship. That’s partially because uncontrolled diabetes can increase the risk of heart disease and heart failure. 

“If a patient has diabetes and they have poor [blood] sugar control, that can affect the heart pumping function,” says Michelle Bloom, MD, Cardiologist at Stony Brook University Hospital.

High blood sugar levels can also lead to damage to the blood vessels. This may narrow the blood vessels over time and worsen blood flow. This may require the heart to work harder to pump blood. Over time, this may strain and weaken the heart.

2. Kidney disease

“The heart and the kidneys are connected in a very complicated way,” says Dr. Bloom. “If your heart isn’t pumping well, your kidneys may be backed up with blood or may not be getting enough blood supply.”

“Vice versa, if the kidneys aren’t working well, it sometimes causes the heart to have to work harder to pump,” she adds.

Because of this close connection, people who have both heart failure and kidney disease may have more severe or advanced illness compared to those who have just one of the conditions.

3. Lung disease

One type of lung disease is COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Heart failure and COPD share many risk factors, including smoking, inactive lifestyle, and older age. 

Plus, heart failure often causes shortness of breath and may lead to poor or improper breathing. Over time, it can weaken or make your lung muscles less effective.

4. Atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, refers to an irregular heartbeat. Usually, the heart beats in a steady, predictable way, but AFib causes the heart to have a quivering, abnormal, faster beat. 

AFib may affect the heart’s ability to pump blood properly. This may increase the risk of heart failure and cause symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath.

How can sticking to your heart failure treatment help manage comorbidities?

When treating heart failure, your care team will likely consider your whole health — not just the heart. 

“It’s very hard to control heart failure if we don’t also control a person’s other comorbidities,” says Dr. Bloom. “We have to make sure that we’re treating everything at the same time and getting everything to function well.”

Sticking to your heart failure treatment may help prevent other comorbidities (like kidney disease) from worsening. Similarly, treating your other conditions may help slow the progression of heart failure.

Are there medications that help treat heart failure and its comorbidities?

Some medications for heart failure may perform “double duty.” In addition to helping treat heart failure, they have been shown to have benefits for other conditions. “Many of the newer medications that we use for heart failure can actually also help the kidneys, for example,” says Dr. Bloom.

Discussing your medical history with your care team can help find the best medication plan for you. It may also help to ask what each of your medications is for and why your doctor prescribed it.

“We are trained to figure out what to do to handle all of those conditions at the same time,” says Dr. Bloom. “There is a healthcare team always available to help, [and] all of us can work together to help your medications work for you.”

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Written by:

Lauren Smith, MA

Lauren Smith, MA, has worked in health journalism since 2017. Before joining GoodRx, she was the senior health editor and writer for HealthiNation.

Reviewed by:

Mera Goodman, MD, FAAP

Mera Goodman, MD, FAAP, is a board-certified pediatrician. Prior to practicing medicine, she worked as a management consultant.

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