Time-sensitive prognostic performance of an afterload-integrated diastolic index in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a prospective multicentre observational study

Abstract

Objectives: The prognostic significance of an afterload-integrated diastolic index, the ratio of diastolic elastance (Ed) to arterial elastance (Ea) (Ed/Ea=[E/e']/[0.9×systolic blood pressure]), is valid for 1 year after discharge in older patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We aimed to clarify the association with changes in Ed/Ea from enrolment to 1 year and prognosis thereafter in patients with HFpEF.

Setting: A prospective, multicentre observational registry of collaborating hospitals in Osaka, Japan.

Participants: We enrolled 659 patients with HFpEF hospitalised for acute decompensated heart failure (men/women: 296/363). Blood tests and transthoracic echocardiography were performed before discharge and at 1 year after.

Primary outcome measures: All-cause mortality and/or re-admission for heart failure were evaluated after discharge.

Results: High Ed/Ea assessed before discharge was a significant prognostic factor during the first, but not the second, year after discharge in all-cause mortality or all-cause mortality and/or re-admission for heart failure. When re-analysis was performed using the value of Ed/Ea at 1 year after discharge, high Ed/Ea was significant for the prognosis during the second year for both end points (p=0.012 and p=0.033, respectively). The poorest mortality during 1‒2 years after enrolment was observed in those who showed a worsening Ed/Ea during the first year associated with larger left ventricular mass index and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. In all-cause mortality and/or re-admission for heart failure, the event rate during 1‒2 years was highest in those with persistently high Ed/Ea even after 1 year.

Conclusions: Time-sensitive prognostic performance of Ed/Ea, an afterload-integrated diastolic index, was observed in older patients with HFpEF.

Trial registration number: UMIN000021831.

Keywords: cardiac epidemiology; echocardiography; heart failure.