An aldosterone antagonist, which is a recommended therapy and increases the odds of survival are not given to two-thirds of patients hospitalized with serious heart failure.

Aldosterone is a hormone which is released as the heart failure sets in and causes salt and water retention, leading to even worse symptoms. Aldosterone antagonists block the action of aldosterone and are highly recommended for the treatment of heart failure.

According to recent statistics from the American Heart Association, 5.2 million people in the United States are affected by heart failure and there is an expected rise in these numbers.

The treatment of the condition is keeps varying as per a new research and one therapy has been found to be underutilized in patients who could benefit from it.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, of the UCLA School of medicine led the research which examined the number of patients appropriately discharged on aldosterone antagonists from the hospitals who were registered in the guidelines program.

The results revealed that in 241 hospitals during 2005-2007; slightly less than one-third of eligible patients who were discharged on the medication and usage by hospital had a huge variation.

Dr Fonarow said, "We have a very important therapy, aldosterone antagonists, that is widely available, is very inexpensive, but when we look at, in this study, in a contemporary time frame in hospitals across the United States, there are large numbers of eligible patients that are not being treated".

There is a hope among researchers that the rate at which people with heart failure are treated will also increase following this report.