AimsThere is an ongoing discussion whether the categorization of patients with heart failure according to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is scientifically justified and clinically relevant. Major efforts are directed towards the identification of appropriate cut-off values to correctly allocate heart failure-specific pharmacotherapy. Alternatively, an LVEF continuum without definite subgroups is discussed. This study aimed to evaluate the natural distribution of LVEF in patients presenting with acutely decompensated heart failure and to identify potential subgroups of LVEF in male and female patients. Methods and resultsWe identified 470 patients (mean age 75 ± 11 years, n = 137 female) hospitalized for acute heart failure in whom LVEF could be quantified by Simpson's method in an in-hospital echocardiogram. Non-parametric modelling revealed a bimodal shape of the LVEF distribution. Parametric modelling identified two clusters suggesting two LVEF peaks with mean (variance) of 61% (9%) and 31% (10%), respectively. Sub-differentiation by sex revealed a sex-specific bimodal clustering of LVEF. The respective threshold differentiating between 'high' and 'low' LVEF was 45% in men and 52% in women. Conclusions In patients presenting with acute heart failure, LVEF clustered in two subgroups and exhibited profound sex-specific distributional differences. These findings might enrich the scientific process to identify distinct subgroups of heart failure patients, which might each benefit from respectively tailored (pharmaco)therapies.
Background Exercise training in heart failure (HF) is recommended but not routinely offered, because of logistic and safety-related reasons. In 2020, the German Society for Prevention&Rehabilitation and the German Society for Cardiology requested establishing dedicated “HF training groups.” Here, we aimed to implement and evaluate the feasibility and safety of one of the first HF training groups in Germany. Methods Twelve patients (three women) with symptomatic HF (NYHA class II/III) and an ejection fraction ≤ 45% participated and were offered weekly, physician-supervised exercise training for 1 year. Patients received a wrist-worn pedometer (M430 Polar) and underwent the following assessments at baseline and after 4, 8 and 12 months: cardiopulmonary exercise test, 6-min walk test, echocardiography (blinded reading), and quality of life assessment (Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, KCCQ). Results All patients (median age [quartiles] 64 [49; 64] years) completed the study and participated in 76% of the offered 36 training sessions. The pedometer was worn ≥ 1000 min per day over 86% of the time. No cardiovascular events occurred during training. Across 12 months, NT-proBNP dropped from 986 pg/ml [455; 1937] to 483 pg/ml [247; 2322], and LVEF increased from 36% [29;41] to 41% [32;46]%, (p for trend = 0.01). We observed no changes in exercise capacity except for a subtle increase in peak VO2% predicted, from 66.5 [49; 77] to 67 [52; 78]; p for trend = 0.03. The physical function and social limitation domains of the KCCQ improved from 60 [54; 82] to 71 [58; 95, and from 63 [39; 83] to 78 [64; 92]; p for trend = 0.04 and = 0.01, respectively. Positive trends were further seen for the clinical and overall summary scores. Conclusion This pilot study showed that the implementation of a supervised HF-exercise program is feasible, safe, and has the potential to improve both quality of life and surrogate markers of HF severity. This first exercise experiment should facilitate the design of risk-adopted training programs for patients with HF.
OnBehalf AHF Registry Background & Aim A novel echocardiographic method to non-invasively determine left ventricular (LV) myocardial work (MyW) based on speckle-tracking derived longitudinal strain and blood pressure has recently been validated against invasive reference measurements. MyW is considered less load-dependent than LV ejection fraction (EF) and LV longitudinal strain. We investigated MyW indices in patients with reduced ejection fraction (LVEF <40%; HFrEF) and patients with preserved ejection fraction (LVEF ≥50%, HFpEF) admitted for acutely decompensated heart failure (AHF). Methods The AHF registry is a monocentric prospective follow-up study that comprehensively phenotypes consecutive patients hospitalized for AHF. Echocardiography was performed on the day of admission. MyW assessment was performed off-line using EchoPAC (GE, version 202). Here we present MyW indices and performed two-sided t-tests to analyze differences in numerical baseline covariates. Results We analyzed the echocardiograms of 94 AHF patients (72 ± 10 years; 36% female). 46 patients (49%) had an LVEF <40%, while 48 patients (51%) presented with LVEF ≥50%. HFrEF patients were younger, less often female, and hat lower blood pressure (table). Consistent with lower LVEF, HFrEF patients had less negative global longitudinal strain and lower global constructive work, when compared to HFpEF patients. Since HFrEF patients also had higher global wasted work, this yielded a lower myocardial work efficiency compared to HFpEF patients (table). Conclusions This analysis in patients with AHF exhibited marked differences in MyW indices according to subgroups with HFrEF and HFpEF, thus adding information to the classical measures of LV function. Future research has to determine whether constructive and/or wasted MyW are valuable diagnostic or therapeutic targets in patients with AHF. Abstract P803 Figure.
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