Objective: to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics and determine the precipitating factors of heart failure. The importance of knowing these factors will allow measures to be applied that prevent or delay cardiac decompensation. Methods: we perform an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study design was applied. The sample was made up of men and women, of legal age, who were admitted to the Medical Clinic Service for decompensated heart failure between April and October 2023. A sampling of consecutive cases was used, and demographic and clinical variables were measured. Descriptive statistics were applied. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad Privada del Este, Paraguay. Results: the sample consisted of 130 subjects, 65 being men with a mean age of 64 ± 16 years and 65 women with a mean age of 62 ± 15 years. The most frequent comorbi...