Longitudinal evaluation of ventricular ejection fraction and NT-proBNP across heart failure subgroups. (4th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martinsson, Andreas; Oest, Petter; Wiborg, Maj-Britt; Reitan, Öyvind; Smith, J. Gustav
• Is Part Of: Scandinavian cardiovascular journal. Volume 52:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 205
• Page End: 210
• Publication Date: 2018-07-04
• Subjects: Heart failure -- NT-proBNP -- ejection fraction -- heart failure management program -- heart failure therapy; Cardiovascular system -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 617.41
• DOI: 10.1080/14017431.2018.1461920
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1401-7431

Abstract

Abstract: Objectives: Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are important surrogate markers of cardiac function and wall stress. Randomized trials of heart failure (HF) have shown improvements in survival in patients with reduced EF (<40%, HFrEF) but not with preserved EF (≥50%, HFpEF) or mid-range EF (40-49%, HFmrEF). Limited information is available on the trajectory of EF in contemporary heart failure management programs (HFMPs). Design: 201 HF patients consecutively enrolled 2010–2011 in the outpatient-based HFMP of Skåne University Hospital in Lund were included in the study. Probable etiology, EF, NT-proBNP and medications were assessed at baseline and 1 year after enrollment. Results: HFrEF was the most common heart failure subgroup (78.1% of patients) in this HFMP, followed by HFmrEF (14.9%) and HFpEF (7.0%). The most common etiology was ischemic heart disease (IHD, 40.8%). Complete recovery of EF (>50%) was rare (14.1% of patients with HFrEF and 26.7% with HFmrEF), some degree of improvement was observed in 57.7% and 46.7% of patients. LVEF improved on average 9.1% in patients with HFrEF ( p < .001) and NT-proBNP decreased from 4, 202 to 2, 030 pg/ml ( p < .001). A similar trend was noticed for the HFmrEF group but was not statistically significant. The improvement in LVEF was consistent across subgroups with HF attributable to IHD (6.2%), idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (7.1%) and tachycardia-induced HF (17.5%). Conclusions: This study provides estimates of the improvement in LVEF and NT-proBNP that can be expected with contemporary management across subgroups of HF and different etiologies in a contemporary HFMP.