The relative importance of aetiological factors in heart failure is dependent on the nature of the population being studied, as coronary artery disease and hypertension are common causes of heart failure in Western countries, whereas valvar heart disease and nutritional cardiac disease are more common in the developing world. Epidemiological studies are also dependent on the clinical criteria and relevant investigations used for diagnosis, as it remains difficult, for example, to distinguish whether hypertension is the primary cause of heart failure or whether there is also underlying coronary artery disease.
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