Among patients with heart failure with indications for CRT, those with DCM may not benefit from additional primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy, as opposed to those with ICM.

The present study aims to describe accelerometer‐assessed physical activity (PA) patterns and fulfillment of PA recommendations in a large sample of middle‐aged men and women, and to study differences between subgroups of socio‐demographic, socio‐economic, and lifestyle‐related variables. A total of 27 890 (92.5% of total participants, 52% women, aged 50–64 years) middle‐aged men and women with at least four days of valid hip‐worn accelerometer data (Actigraph GT3X+, wGT3X+ and wGT3X‐BT) from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study, SCAPIS, were included. In total, 54.5% of daily wear time was spent sedentary, 39.1% in low, 5.4% in moderate, and only 0.1% in vigorous PA. Male sex, higher education, low financial strain, born in Sweden, and sedentary/light working situation were related to higher sedentary time, but also higher levels of vigorous PA. High BMI and having multiple chronic diseases associated strongly with higher sedentary time and less time in all three PA intensities. All‐year physically active commuters had an overall more active PA pattern. The proportion fulfilling current PA recommendations varied substantially (1.4% to 92.2%) depending on data handling procedures and definition used. Twenty‐eight percent was defined as having an “at‐risk” behavior, which included both high sedentary time and low vigorous PA. In this large population‐based sample, a majority of time was spent sedentary and only a fraction in vigorous PA, with clinically important variations between subgroups. This study provides important reference material and emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the individual PA pattern in future research and clinical practice.

The ScREEN score (Sex category, Renal function, ECG/QRS width, Ejection fraction and NYHA class) is composed of widely validated, easy to obtain predictors of CRT response, and predicts CRT response and overall mortality. It should be helpful in facilitating early consideration of alternative therapies for predicted non-responders to CRT therapy.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) reduces mortality and morbidity in selected heart failure (HF) patients, but up to one-third of patients are non-responders. Sum absolute QRST integral (SAI QRST) recently showed association with mechanical response on CRT. However, it is unknown whether SAI QRST is associated with all-cause mortality and HF hospitalizations in CRT patients. The study population included 496 patients undergoing CRT (mean age 69±10 years, 84% male, 65% left bundle branch block (LBBB), left ventricular ejection fraction 23±6%, 63% ischemic cardiomyopathy). Pre-implant digital 12-lead ECG was transformed into orthogonal XYZ ECG. SAI QRST was measured as an arithmetic sum of areas under the QRST curve on XYZ leads, and was dichotomized based on the median value (302mV*ms). All-cause mortality served as the primary endpoint. A composite of 2-year all-cause mortality, heart transplant, and HF hospitalization was a secondary endpoint. Cox regression models were adjusted for known predictors of CRT response. Patients with pre-implant low mean SAI QRST had an increased risk of both the primary (HR 1.8; 95%CI 1.01–3.2) and secondary (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.2) endpoints following multivariable adjustment. SAI QRST was associated with secondary outcome in subgroups of patients with LBBB (HR 2.1 [95%CI 1.5-3.0]) and with non-LBBB (HR 1.7, [95%CI 1.0-2.6]). In patients undergoing CRT, pre-implant SAI QRST<302mV*ms was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization. After validation in another prospective cohort, SAI QRST may help to refine selection of CRT recipients.

In CRT treatment outside of the clinical trial setting, CRT-D treatment was not an independent predictor of long-term survival. Future research should focus on correct selection of the patients who receive enough benefit of an added defibrillator to justify CRT-D implantation instead of CRT-P treatment only.

Aims The very long-term outcome of patients who survive the first few years after receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has not been well described thus far. We aimed to provide long-term outcomes, especially with regard to the occurrence of sudden cardiac death (SCD), in CRT patients without (CRT-P) and with defibrillator (CRT-D). Methods and results A total of 1775 patients, with ischaemic or non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy, who were alive 5 years after CRT implantation, were enrolled in this multicentre European observational cohort study. Overall long-term mortality rates and specific causes of death were assessed, with a focus on late SCD. Over a mean follow-up of 30 months (interquartile range 10–42 months) beyond the first 5 years, we observed 473 deaths. The annual age-standardized mortality rates of CRT-D and CRT-P patients were 40.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) 35.3–45.5] and 97.2 (95% CI 85.5–109.9) per 1000 patient-years, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was 0.99 (95% CI 0.79–1.22). Twenty-nine patients in total died of late SCD (14 with CRT-P, 15 with CRT-D), corresponding to 6.1% of all causes of death in both device groups. Specific annual SCD rates were 8.5 and 5.8 per 1000 patient-years in CRT-P and CRT-D patients, respectively, with no significant difference between groups (adjusted HR 1.0, 95% CI 0.45–2.44). Death due to progressive heart failure represented the principal cause of death (42.8% in CRT-P patients and 52.6% among CRT-D recipients), whereas approximately one-third of deaths in both device groups were due to non-cardiovascular death. Conclusion In this first description of very long-term outcomes among CRT recipients, progressive heart failure death still represented the most frequent cause of death in patients surviving the first 5 years after CRT implant. In contrast, SCD represents a very low proportion of late mortality irrespective of the presence of a defibrillator.

In primary prevention patients with CRT indication, the addition of a defibrillator might convey additional benefit only in well-selected male patients.

BackgroundCardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established therapy for appropriately selected patients with heart failure. Response to CRT has been heterogeneously defined using both clinical and echocardiographic measures, with poor correlation between the two.MethodsThe study cohort was comprised of 202 CRT-treated patients and CRT response was defined at 6 months post-implant. Echocardiographic response (E+) was defined as a reduction in LVESV ≥ 15%, clinical response as an improvement of ≥ 1 NYHA class (C+), and biomarker response as a ≥ 25% reduction in NT-proBNP(B+). The association of response measures (E+, B+, C+; response score range 0–3) and clinical endpoints at 3 years was assessed in landmarked Cox models.ResultsEcho and clinical responders demonstrated greater declines in NT-proBNP than non-responders (median [E+/B+]: -52%, [E+]: -27%, [C+]: -39% and [E-/C-]: -13%; p = 0.01 for trend). Biomarker (HR 0.43 [95% CI: 0.22–0.86], p = 0.02) and clinical (HR 0.40 [0.23–0.70] p = 0.001) response were associated with a significantly reduced risk of the primary endpoint. When integrating each response measure into a composite score, each 1 point increase was associated with a 31% decreased risk for a composite endpoint of mortality, LVAD, transplant and HF hospitalization (HR 0.69 [95% CI: 0.50–0.96], p = 0.03), and a 52% decreased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 0.48 [95% CI: 0.26–0.89], p = 0.02).ConclusionSerial changes in NT-proBNP are associated with clinical outcomes following CRT implant. Integration of biomarker, clinical, and echocardiographic response may discriminate CRT responders versus non-responders in a clinically meaningful way, and with higher accuracy.Trial registrationThe cohort was combined from study NCT01949246 and the study based on local review board approval 2011/550 in Lund, Sweden.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-018-0802-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.