adults have heart failure. In those over the age of 75, rates are greater than 10%. Rates are predicted to increase. Increasing rates are mostly because of increasing lifespan, but also because of increased risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity) and improved survival rates from other types of cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, valvular disease, and arrhythmias). Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. United States In the United States, heart failure affects 5.8 million people, and each year 550,000 new cases are diagnosed. In 2011, heart failure was the most common reason for hospitalization for adults aged 85 years and older, and the second-most common for adults aged 65–84 years. An estimated one in five adults at age 40 will develop heart failure during their remaining lifetimes and about half of people who develop heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis. Heart failure is much higher in African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and recent immigrants from Eastern Europe countries such as Russia. This high prevalence in these ethnic minority populations has been linked to high incidence of diabetes and hypertension. In many new immigrants to the U.S., the high prevalence of heart failure has largely been attributed to lack of preventive health care or substandard treatment. Nearly one of every four people (24.7%) hospitalized in the U.S. with congestive heart failure are readmitted within 30 days. Additionally, more than 50% of people seek readmission within 6 months after treatment and the average duration of hospital stay is 6 days. Heart failure is a leading cause of hospital readmissions in the U.S. People aged 65 and older were readmitted at a rate of 24.5 per 100 admissions in 2011. In the same year, people under Medicaid were readmitted at a rate of 30.4 per 100 admissions, and uninsured people were readmitted at a rate of 16.8 per 100 admissions. These are the highest readmission rates for both categories. Notably, heart failure was not among the top-10 conditions with the most 30-day readmissions among the privately insured. United Kingdom In the UK, despite moderate improvements in prevention, heart failure rates have increased due to population growth and ageing. Overall heart failure rates are similar to the four most common causes of cancer (breast, lung, prostate, and colon) combined. People from deprived backgrounds are more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure and at a