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BackgroundHeart failure (HF) patients living in rural areas have a lack of HF knowledge and poor self-care because of limited medical care access. Multidisciplinary education to improve self-care behavior is indispensable for such patients. The present study evaluated whether intensive inpatient education improved outcomes of hospitalized HF patients in a Japanese rural setting.MethodsAn inpatient HF management program based on multidisciplinary team intervention was applied to hospitalized HF patients in a Japanese rural area. We defined patients treated within the program from May 2009 to April 2011 as the intervention group (n = 144), and those treated with the usual care from May 2006 to April 2009 as the usual care group (n = 133). The composite endpoints of HF hospitalization and all-cause mortality were compared between the two groups.ResultsCompared with patients in the usual care group, those in the intervention group more often received the optimal interventions such as discharge use of β-blockers, cardiac rehabilitation, pre-discharge diagnostic tests, and multidisciplinary intensive education including nurse-led patient education, pharmacist’s medication teaching, and dietitian’s nutritional guidance (all P < 0.05). The incidence of the composite endpoints significantly decreased after introducing the program (P < 0.001). Among a number of interventions, multidisciplinary intensive education was the most effective intervention to improve the primary outcome (P < 0.001).ConclusionsMultidisciplinary intensive education is a key strategy for helping improve the outcome for Japanese HF patients in a rural setting. Our data may give a positive impact on the improvement of healthcare system in Japan.

Aims Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a metabolite derived from the gut microbiota. Elevated TMAO levels are associated with a poor prognosis in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. However, the prognostic effect of elevated TMAO levels on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains unclear. Methods and results We consecutively enrolled 146 patients who were hospitalized and discharged from Tottori University Hospital with the primary diagnosis of HFpEF (ejection fraction ≥ 50%). High TMAO levels were defined as those greater than the median value in the patients (20.37 μmol/L). Patients with high TMAO levels had a significantly higher prevalence of prior hospitalization for heart failure and severe renal dysfunction than those with low TMAO levels. They also had a significantly higher acylcarnitine to free carnitine ratio than those with low TMAO levels, which indicated abnormal fatty acid metabolism and relative carnitine deficiency. After adjustment for differences in the patients' background in multivariate analysis, high TMAO levels remained independently associated with a high incidence of the composite endpoints of death due to cardiac causes and hospitalization for heart failure (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.91; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 3.62; P < 0.05). There was a significant interaction between TMAO and nutritional status on the primary outcome, and the prognostic effect of TMAO was enhanced in patients with malnutrition. Conclusions Elevated TMAO levels at discharge are associated with an increased risk of post-discharge cardiac events in patients with HFpEF, especially those with the complication of malnutrition.