Longitudinal evaluation of ventricular ejection fraction and NT-proBNP across heart failure subgroups

Abstract

Objectives: Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are important surrogate markers of cardiac function and wall stress. Randomized trials of heart failure (HF) have shown improvements in survival in patients with reduced EF (<40%, HFrEF) but not with preserved EF (≥50%, HFpEF) or mid-range EF (40-49%, HFmrEF). Limited information is available on the trajectory of EF in contemporary heart failure management programs (HFMPs). Design: 201 HF patients consecutively enrolled 2010–2011 in the outpatient-based HFMP of Skåne University Hospital in Lund were included in the study. Probable etiology, EF, NT-proBNP and medications were assessed at baseline and 1 year after enrollment. Results: HFrEF was the most common heart failure subgroup (78.1% of patients) in this HFMP, followed by HFmrEF (14.9%) and HFpEF (7.0%). The most common etiology was ischemic heart disease (IHD, 40.8%). Complete recovery of EF (>50%) was rare (14.1% of patients with HFrEF and 26.7% with HFmrEF), some degree of improvement was observed in 57.7% and 46.7% of patients. LVEF improved on average 9.1% in patients with HFrEF (p