Regular annual visits to a cardiologist reduce heart failure patients' mortality by 24%, study finds.

A study in the European Heart Journal shows that heart failure patients who see a cardiologist annually are 24% less likely to die within the next year. Conducted by French researchers, the study involved over 650,000 patients and found that about 40% of patients did not visit a cardiologist yearly. The research suggests that regular cardiologist visits could save one life for every 11 to 16 patients seen, though it cannot prove causation. The study recommends more frequent visits for patients with recent hospitalizations or those using diuretics.