Aim: To investigate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the prognosis of heart failure (HF) patients, focussing specifically on aetiology and patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function (LVSF), which to date has not been fully investigated.
Method and results: 1659 Patients hospitalized for HF between 1991 and 2002 in the Cardiology Department of a tertiary hospital, aged 69+/-12 years, 60% male were studied prospectively. Arterial hypertension was present in 54% of patients, DM in 26% and ischaemic cardiomyopathy in 51%. A survival analysis performed in April 2003 showed that DM worsens the prognosis of the whole group (median survival (MS): 3.6 vs. 5.4 years; p<0.001), of ischaemic and non-ischaemic patients (MS: 3.8 vs. 4.9 years; p=0.13 and 3.6 vs. 6.0 years; p<0.001, respectively). A similar effect of DM was shown in patients with preserved LVSF (MS: 3.8 vs. 5.8 years; p=0.03) and in patients with impaired LVSF (3.6 vs. 6.3 years; p<0.0001).
Conclusion: DM increases mortality among HF patients with preserved and impaired LVSF and those without ischaemic cardiomyopathy.