Precipitating factors or causes of congestive heart failure in outpatients are often reversible -- seek them out and try to correct them. Fever and hyperthyroidism can be the difference between heart disease without congestive failure and heart disease with congestive heart failure. Following are several precipitating causes of CHF:

• Non-compliance
• Myocardial ischemia
• Myocardial infarction
• Brady- or tachyarrhythmias
• COPD exacerbation
• Anemia
• Hyperthyroidism