Congestive Heart Failure: Overview

Congestive heart failure is often mistaken to mean that a person's heart has completely stopped beating, but it actually refers to a condition when the heart can't fill with enough blood or has trouble sending blood throughout the body.

When the right-side of the heart is affected, the heart has trouble pumping blood to the lungs to receive oxygen. When the left-side of the heart is affected, the heart struggles to deliver blood to the rest of the body.

Congestive heart failure is most prominent in people who are 65 or older because aging can weaken the heart muscle. Being overweight or obese also increases the risk of congestive heart failure since extra weight forces the heart to work harder. African Americans are also at a greater risk, often developing the disease sooner and suffering from more severe forms of heart failure.

This information has been adapted from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.