Change in global longitudinal strain following acute coronary syndrome and subsequent risk of heart failure

Global Longitudinal Strain (GLS) is a well-established predictor of heart failure (HF) following acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aim to investigate the prognostic value of GLS obtained at a follow-up consultation, as well as the change in GLS for long-term risk of incident HF. A total of 235 ACS patients had an echocardiogram performed immediately after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and a follow-up echocardiogram (FUE) median 215 (IQR: 71; 878) days after the first echocardiogram. Endpoint was incident HF. Follow-up time after FUE was median 4.8 (IQR: 3.7; 5.6) years. Patients diagnosed with HF before FUE were excluded. Mean age was 63 ± 11 years and 77% were male. Baseline GLS was on average 12.7 ± 3.9%, FUE GLS was on average 13.5 ± 3.9% and mean improvement in GLS was 0.73 ± 3.68% between the 2 echocardiograms. A total of 57 (24%) patients suffered incident HF following the FUE. FUE GLS provided significantly higher prognostic information for risk of incident HF than ∆GLS when assessed by the C-statistics (C-statistics: 0.71 vs. 0.61, P = 0.021). Furthermore, after multivariable adjustments only FUE GLS [HR = 1.15, 95% CI (1.02; 1.29), P = 0.018, per 1% decrease] remained an independent predictor of incident HF. In patients with ACS, who do not develop HF before FUE, FUE GLS was an independent predictor of long-term risk of incident HF while ∆GLS was not.