Background: Over the last few decades, the incidence and prevalence of chronic heart failure (HF) have been constantly increasing.

Aim: To identify predictors of one-year mortality and hospital readmissions in patients discharged after hospitalisation for HF.

Methods: The study included Polish patients who agreed to participate in the Heart Failure Pilot Survey of the European Society of Cardiology and were followed for 12 months. The primary endpoint was all-cause death at 12 months. The secondary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death and readmission for cardiac causes at 12 months.

Results: The final analysis included 629 patients. The primary end point occurred in 68 of 629 patients (10.8%). In multivariate analysis, independent predictors of one-year mortality were: higher New York Heart Association (NYHA) class at admission (odds ratio [OR] 1.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–3.59; p = 0.0478), inotropic support during hospitalisation (OR 3.95; 95% CI 1.49–10.47; p = 0.0056), and lower glomerular filtration rate at discharge (OR 0.978; 95% CI 0.961–0.995; p = 0.0117). The secondary endpoint occurred in 278 of 503 patients (55.3%). In multivariate analysis, predictors of secondary endpoint were a history of previous coronary revascularisation (OR 2.403; 95% CI 1.221–4.701; p = 0.002) and inotropic support during hospitalisation (OR 2.521; 95% CI 1.062–5.651; p = 0.009).

Conclusions: Patients discharged after hospitalisation for HF remained at high risk of death and hospital readmission. A previous history of coronary revascularisation, decreased renal function, and worse clinical status at admission with the need for inotropic support were predictors of one-year outcome in Polish patients hospitalised for HF.