OPTIHEART: determinants and prognostic importance of optimal medical treatment in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction discharged from a heart failure clinic from 2018 to 2020

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is an increasing health problem globally. Profound sex-related differences have been observed regarding the cause, treatment, and prognosis of HF.

AIM: To assess baseline predictors for achieving optimal medical treatment (OMT) and the prognostic importance of OMT for male and female patients who have attended a HF clinical program (HFCP).

METHODS: OPTIHEART was a retrospective study that included 870 consecutive patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)≤40% discharged from HFCP in 2018, 2019 or 2020 and followed in registers for a mean of 1083(SD 11.3) days. OMT was defined as receiving an angiotensin-converting-enzyme-inhibitor (ACEi), angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) or angiotensin-II-receptor blocker and nephrylisin-inhibitor (ARNI) AND a betablocker (BB) both in doses ≥ 50% of target doses.

RESULTS: Achieving OMT was associated with male sex (OR: 2.05 95%CI 1.44-2.97; p < 0.0001) independently of younger age, higher diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and lower creatinine. A lower rate of 5-point MACE was associated with achieved OMT (HR: 0.67 95%CI 0.50-0.90; p = 0.007) independently of female sex (HR: 0.64 95%CI 0.48-0.84; p = 0.002), younger age, never smoking and NYHA ≤ 2. The beneficial effect of OMT was insignificantly more pronounced in patients with male sex, older age, higher creatinine, lower DBP, and body mass index ≤25kg/m2.

CONCLUSION: OMT was more frequently achieved in patients with male sex independently of age, DBP, and creatinine. Achieving OMT was associated with less 5-point MACE independently of female sex, younger age, never smoking and NYHA ≤ 2.