Abstract: AIM:To study the prognostic value of etiology in patients with heart failure (HF). METHODS: Data of inhospital patients with HF in our hospital between January 2007 and December 2010 were investigated and the patients were followedup by telephone. Patients were classified into the following etiology groups, namely, coronary heart disease, hypertension, dilated cardiomyopathy, valvular disease. Multifactors and clinical characteristics in each group were analyzed. Cox proportional hazards analyses were conducted to examine the difference in mortality. RESULTAS: A total of 513 patients with heart failure were enrolled; 231 died by the end of the followup period with a mortality rate of 45%. Significant differences were found in ages, NYHA classes and LVEF among the different groups (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that HR in patients with coronary heart disease and dilated cardiomyopathy were, respectively, 2.517 times and 2.480 times than in patients with valvular disease (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients with HF have a poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Different etiologies of heart failure demonstrate different clinical characteristics and prognoses.