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AHEAD Score (Acute HF Death Prediction) Calculator

  • Sex
  • Age (years)
  • Hemoglobin (g/L) Enter laboratory value in g/L (e.g. 125)
  • Serum creatinine (µmol/L)
  • Atrial fibrillation AF present on admission or known history of AF
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • AHEAD score - Explanation and clinical context
    The AHEAD score is a simple bedside risk classification tool developed to estimate short- and long-term prognosis in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure. It includes five binary items (each scores 1 point): Atrial fibrillation (present on admission or known AF), Haemoglobin below sex-specific thresholds (<130 g/L in men; <120 g/L in women), Elderly age (age > 70 years), Abnormal renal parameters (serum creatinine > 130 µmol/L), and Diabetes mellitus. The total score ranges 0–5; in the original derivation cohort the observed 1-year all-cause mortality by score 0→5 was approximately 13.6%, 23.4%, 32.0%, 41.1%, 47.7%, and 58.2%, respectively - making the score useful for early risk stratification of hospitalized acute HF patients. This tool was derived and validated on large multicenter registries and should be applied in the clinical context (it does not replace clinical judgement).

    Reference:
    Špinar J, et al. AHEAD score - Long-term risk classification in acute heart failure. Int J Cardiol. 2016;202:21–26. Additional external validations and performance assessments have been published subsequently.