EF is often reduced in which condition?

• A. Heart Failure
• B. Hypertension
• C. Atrial Fibrillation
• D. Anemia

Answer: (A)

EF is the percentage of blood the left ventricle pumps out with each beat. It drops when the heart’s pump function is impaired, which is the hallmark of systolic heart failure. In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, the ventricle cannot contract forcefully enough, so stroke volume falls and EF falls below normal. Hypertension mainly causes thickening of the heart muscle and can preserve EF early on, not routinely lowering it. Atrial fibrillation and anemia don’t inherently reduce EF; AF may coexist with normal EF unless there’s another cardiomyopathy, and anemia tends to raise cardiac workload without inherently decreasing EF. So EF is often reduced in heart failure.