Objective To observe the effects of acupoint application in dog days on clinical efficacy and cardiovascular events in treating chronic heart failure（CHF） with yang qi deficiency

blood stasis and water retention syndrome. Methods A total of 160 cases of CHF with yang qi deficiency

blood stasis and water retention syndrome were included. Eighty cases in the control group were given conventional western medicine basic treatment

and the other 80 cases in the treatment group were added acupoint application in dog days on acupoints. Acupoint application in dog days were given from the first day to the last day of dag days

once every other day

4-6 h per time

20 times totally. The plasma N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide（NT-proBNP） level

Minnesota Heart Failure Quality of Life Scale（MLHFQ） and quality of life（SF-36） scale scores before and after treatment were observed in both groups. The clinical efficacy after treatment was evaluated. After 6 months

the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients was recorded

and the correlations of the incidence of cardiovascular events with gender

age

cardiac function classification

acupoint application

and comorbidities were analyzed. Results The total effective rate of clinical efficacy in the treatment group was 89.87%

and 72.15% in the control group with significant difference（P<0.01）; Compared with the control group

serum NT-proBNP and MLHFQ in the treatment group were significantly decreased after treatment

and SF-36 scores were significantly increased（P<0.01）. The incidence of major cardiovascular events in patients with CHF was 31.6% re-hospitalization

21.5% acute heart failure

and 2.5% cardiogenic death for the control group

and 15.2% re-hospitalization

7.6% acute heart failure

and 1.3% cardiaogenic death for the treatment group. The incidence of re-hospitalization and acute heart failure in the treatment group was lower than that of the control group（P<0.05）. Analysis of factors related to cardiovascular events showed that acupoint application in dog days was a related factor for CHF patients′ re-hospitalization and acute heart failure events（B=-0.955

B =-1.202）. No related factor for cardiac death was found. Conclusion Acupoint application in dog days can improve the cardiac function and quality of life of CHF patients. Besides

acupoint application in dog days therapy can decrease re-hospitalization and incidence of acute heart failure of CHF patients

improve the patient prognosis.