Supplementary Material Author’s manuscript: Click here to view.(1.0M, pdf) Reviewer comments: Click here to view.(184K, pdf) Acknowledgments The authors

would like selleck chem to thank all pharmacists/technicians who participated to the present study. Footnotes Contributors: LB conceived the research project with M-FB, FMD and CL. GL and AV collected the data. AF helped with the analysis of data and statistics. F-ZK helped with the review of literature and the preparation of the first draft of the manuscript. All the authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript. Funding: This work was supported by the Conseil du Médicament/Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Santé (FRQS). Competing interests: LB received research grants from AstraZeneca, Genentech, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Merck and Novartis between 2010 and 2013. M-FB received a research grant from GSK Canada for the conduct of a research project (investigator initiated). LB and M-FB co-chair the AstraZeneca Research Chair in Respiratory Health. FMD received research funds and fees for speaking from Novartis, Takeda (formally Nycomed) and Merck Frosst Inc, received consultancy fee from Boehringer Ingelheim, and served on an advisory board for Novartis. In the past 3 years, CL

has seated on the advisory boards of AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck. CL has also acted as a consultant for AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline and she has provided continuing medical education sponsored by Merck and AstraZeneca. AF, GL, FZK and AV have no conflicts of interests to declare. Ethics approval: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and CHU Sainte-Justine. Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. Data sharing statement: No addition data are available.
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease that is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality and utilisation of healthcare resources. It is a leading reason for hospitalisation and readmissions to hospital, particularly

among individuals older than 65 years of age.1 The costs of HF have been estimated to exceed $30 billion in the USA,2 and hospital-based care is the major Dacomitinib contributor to the direct costs of this condition. HF is also a major healthcare resource and economic burden in Canada, Europe and other developed countries.3 Future projections suggest that it will continue to be an important public health concern given our increasingly ageing population.4 The prognosis of patients with HF is grim, with high rates of mortality risk and hospital readmissions.1 5 Within the first year after discharge from hospital, patients on average have a 28% risk of death,6 but despite their high mortality risks, they also exhibit high rates of hospital readmission.4 A Canadian study found that among patients who survived up to discharge, 24% were readmitted for HF within 1 year.