J Card Fail. 2022 May 27:S1071-9164(22)00532-2. doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2022.05.004. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are commonly admitted to the hospital for both cardiovascular (CV) and noncardiovascular (non-CV) reasons. The prognostic implications of non-CV hospitalizations in this population are not well understood. In this study, we aimed to examine the prognostic implications of hospitalizations due to CV and non-CV reasons in a HFpEF population.
METHODS AND RESULTS: The Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist trial (TOPCAT) randomized 3,445 stable outpatients with chronic HF with left ventricular ejection fraction >=45% and either prior hospitalization for HF or elevated natriuretic peptides to treatment with spironolactone or placebo. Hospitalizations for any cause were reported by investigators during study follow-up and characterized according to prespecified category causes. This analysis focused on the subset of TOPCAT participants enrolled in the Americas (N=1,767), in which 2,973 hospitalizations were observed in 1,062 subjects (60%) over a mean follow-up of 3.3 years of study follow-up, of which 1,474 (49%) were ascribed to CV causes. Among 1,056 first hospitalizations, 478 (45%) were for CV reasons and 578 (55%) for non-CV reasons. Mortality rates were lowest for participants not hospitalized during the trial (3.2 per 100 patient-years (PY)), but similarly elevated following first hospitalization for CV and non-CV reasons (11.0 per 100 PY vs. 12.6 per 100 PY, respectively, p=0.24). Among those hospitalized for CV reasons, mortality rates were similar following hospitalization for HF and non-CV related reasons (15.2 per 100 PY vs. 12.6 per 100 PY, p=0.23). Recurrent hospitalization, whether due to CV or non-CV causes, was associated with heightened risk for subsequent mortality, with similar death rates following hospitalization twice for CV reasons (18.5 per 100 PY), twice for non-CV reasons (21.6 per 100 PY), or once each for CV and non-CV reasons (18.4 per 100 PY).
CONCLUSION: Among patients with HFpEF, hospitalization for any cause is associated with heightened risk for post-discharge mortality, with even higher risk associated with recurrent hospitalization. Given the high burden of non-CV hospitalizations in this population, targeted management of comorbid medical illness may be critical to reducing morbidity and mortality.
PMID:35636727 | DOI:10.1016/j.cardfail.2022.05.004