Cardiac cachexia and sarcopenia in patients with heart failure: need for an integrated approach to patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases

In the context of a steadily ageing population, there is a continuous increase in the prevalence and incidence of all primary chronic conditions.1 Among the chronic conditions, heart failure (HF), together with other cardiovascular conditions (ie, atrial fibrillation), shows increasing prevalence and incidence, particularly in older adults.2 Moreover, recent epidemiological data show a specific increase in the prevalence of HF with preserved ejection fraction, which is characterised by a higher burden of multimorbidity,3 frailty4 and other geriatric syndromes.5