Prognostic Impact of Cardiovascular Versus Noncardiovascular Hospitalizations in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: Insights From TOPCAT.

Background: Patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction are commonly admitted to the hospital for both cardiovascular (CV) and noncardiovascular (non-CV) reasons. The prognostic implications of non-CV hospitalizations in this population are not well understood. In this study, we aimed to examine the prognostic implications of hospitalizations owing to CV and non-CV reasons in a HF with preserved ejection fraction population.
Methods and Results: The Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist trial (TOPCAT) randomized 3445 stable outpatients with chronic HF with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% or greater and either prior hospitalization for HF or elevated natriuretic peptides to treatment with spironolactone or placebo. Hospitalizations for any cause were reported by investigators during study follow-up and characterized according to prespecified category causes. This analysis focused on the subset of TOPCAT participants enrolled in the Americas (n = 1767), in which 2973 hospitalizations were observed in 1062 subjects (60%) over a mean follow-up of 3.3 years of study follow-up, of which 1474 (49%) were ascribed to CV causes. Among 1056 first hospitalizations, 478 (45%) were for CV reasons and 578 (55%) for non-CV reasons. Mortality rates were lowest for participants not hospitalized during the trial (3.2 per 100 patient-years [PY]), but similarly elevated after first hospitalization for CV and non-CV reasons (11.0 per 100 PY vs 12.6 per 100 PY, respectively; P = .24). Among those hospitalized for CV reasons, mortality rates were similar after hospitalization for HF and non-CV related reasons (15.2 per 100 PY vs 12.6 per 100 PY; P = .23). Recurrent hospitalization, whether owing to CV or non-CV causes, was associated with a heightened risk for subsequent mortality, with similar death rates after hospitalization twice for CV reasons (18.5 per 100 PY), twice for non-CV reasons (21.6 per 100 PY), or once each for CV and non-CV reasons (18.4 per 100 PY).
Conclusions: Among patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction, hospitalization for any cause is associated with a heightened risk for postdischarge mortality, with an even higher risk associated with recurrent hospitalization. Given the high burden of non-CV hospitalizations in this population, the targeted management of comorbid medical illness may be critical to decreasing morbidity and mortality.
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