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Table 2 Overview of symptoms and signs of HF according to the universal definition of HF [8]

From: Heart failure in type 2 diabetes: current perspectives on screening, diagnosis and management

Symptoms

Signs

Typical

Less typical

More specific

Less specific

• Breathlessness

• Orthopnea

• Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea

• Reduced exercise tolerance

• Fatigue

• Tiredness

• Ankle swelling

• Inability to exercise

• Swelling of parts of the body other than ankles

• Bendopnea

• Nocturnal cough

• Wheezing

• Bloated feeling

• Postprandial satiety

• Loss of appetite

• Decline in cognitive function

• Confusion (especially in the elderly)

• Depression

• Dizziness

• Syncope

• Elevated jugular venous pressure

• Third heart sound (gallop rhythm)

• Summation gallop with third and fourth heart sounds

• Cardiomegaly

• Laterally displaced apical impulse

• Hepatojugular reflux

• Cheyne Stokes respiration in advanced HF

• Unintentional weight gain (>2 kg/week)

• Weight loss (in advanced HF) with muscle wasting and cachexia

• Tissue wasting (cachexia)

• Cardiac murmur

• Peripheral oedema (ankle, sacral, scrotal)

• Pulmonary rales

• Reduced air entry and dullness to percussion at lung bases suggestive

of pleural effusion

• Tachycardia

• Irregular pulse

• Tachypnoea

• Hepatomegaly

• Ascites

• Cold extremities

• Oliguria

• Narrow pulse pressure