A new French study has found that people with heart failure are more likely to live longer if they see a heart specialist, or cardiologist, at least once a year.
The research, published in the European Heart Journal and presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2025, revealed that only about three in five heart failure patients in France saw a cardiologist at least once a year.
Those who did were around 24% less likely to die in the following year.
Heart failure is a serious condition where the heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it should.
It can’t usually be cured, but the right treatment can help manage the symptoms for many years. Despite this, not all patients see a cardiologist regularly.
The research team, led by Dr. Guillaume Baudry and Professor Nicolas Girerd from Nancy University Hospital, wanted to know whether regular check-ups with a cardiologist made a difference—and their findings suggest that they do.
The study included over 650,000 people in France who had been diagnosed with heart failure in the previous five years.
Using national medical records, the researchers grouped patients based on their recent hospital visits and whether they were taking diuretics—a common medicine for heart failure that helps the body get rid of extra fluid.
Across all groups, two out of five patients did not see a cardiologist in a year.
Those who did were not only less likely to die but also less likely to be hospitalized again for heart failure. The researchers created a model to determine how often different patients should see a cardiologist to get the most benefit.
For example, patients who hadn’t been recently hospitalized and weren’t on diuretics only needed one visit a year to lower their risk of dying from 13% to 6.7%.
But for those who had been hospitalized in the past year, four visits a year were best, cutting their risk of death from 34.3% to 18.2%.
The researchers admitted that this type of study can’t prove that seeing a cardiologist directly causes fewer deaths, but the link is strong. They believe patients should feel encouraged to ask their doctor for a referral to a cardiologist, especially if they have been in hospital recently or are taking diuretics.
One troubling finding was that certain groups were less likely to see a cardiologist, including older people, women, and those with other chronic illnesses like diabetes or lung conditions. Another part of the research showed that while women were less likely to see a cardiologist or receive certain medications, they actually had better outcomes than men.
The researchers hope that this study will encourage health systems to treat heart failure more like cancer, where seeing a specialist is routine. They believe that using simple signs—like whether a patient has been in hospital or takes diuretics—can help doctors decide who needs more frequent follow-up.
Their goal is to save lives by making sure people with heart failure get the right care at the right time.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and scientists find how COVID-19 damages the heart.
For more health information, please see recent studies about Aspirin linked to higher risk of heart failure, and results showing Blackcurrants could improve artery functions, blood pressure in older people.
Source: KSR.
