Added value of frailty and social support in predicting risk of 30-day unplanned re-admission or death for patients with heart failure: An analysis from OPERA-HF.

BACKGROUND: Models for predicting the outcome of patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) rarely take a holistic view. We assessed the ability of measures of frailty and social support in addition to demographic, clinical, imaging and laboratory variables to predict short-term outcome for patients discharged after a hospitalization for HF. METHODS: OPERA-HF is a prospective observational cohort, enrolling patients hospitalized for HF in a single center in Hull, UK. Variables were combined in a logistic regression model after multiple imputation of missing data to predict the composite outcome of death or readmission at 30 days. Comparisons were made to a model using clinical variables alone. The discriminative performance of each model was internally validated with bootstrap re-sampling. RESULTS: 1094 patients were included (mean age 77 [interquartile range 68-83] years; 40% women; 56% with moderate to severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction) of whom 213 (19%) had an unplanned re-admission and 60 (5%) died within 30 days. For the composite outcome, a model containing clinical variables alone had an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.68 [95% CI 0.64-0.72]. Adding marital status, support from family and measures of physical frailty increased the AUC (p < 0.05) to 0.70 [95% CI 0.66-0.74]. CONCLUSIONS: Measures of physical frailty and social support improve prediction of 30-day outcome after an admission for HF but predicting near-term events remains imperfect. Further external validation and improvement of the model is required.

Chronic heart failure and micronutrients.

Heart failure (HF) is associated with weight loss, and cachexia is a well-recognized complication. Patients have an increased risk of osteoporosis and lose muscle bulk early in the course of the disease. Basal metabolic rate is increased in HF, but general malnutrition may play a part in the development of cachexia, particularly in an elderly population. There is evidence for a possible role for micronutrient deficiency in HF. Selective deficiency of selenium, calcium and thiamine can directly lead to the HF syndrome. Other nutrients, particularly vitamins C and E and beta-carotene, are antioxidants and may have a protective effect on the vasculature. Vitamins B6, B12 and folate all tend to reduce levels of homocysteine, which is associated with increased oxidative stress. Carnitine, co-enzyme Q10 and creatine supplementation have resulted in improved exercise capacity in patients with HF in some studies. In this article, we review the relation between micronutrients and HF. Chronic HF is characterized by high mortality and morbidity, and research effort has centered on pharmacological management, with the successful introduction of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-adrenergic antagonists into routine practice. There is sufficient evidence to support a large-scale trial of dietary micronutrient supplementation in HF.

Efficacy and safety of high-dose lisinopril in chronic heart failure patients at high cardiovascular risk, including those with diabetes mellitus. Results from the ATLAS trial.

AIMS: An analysis was designed to determine whether chronic heart failure patients at high cardiovascular risk benefited to the same extent from high-dose lisinopril as the whole ATLAS population. METHODS AND RESULTS: A retrospective analysis was performed on high-risk heart failure patients in the Assessment of Treatment with Lisinopril And Survival (ATLAS) trial (total number of patients 3164) comparing highdose (32.5-35 mg. day(-1)) vs low-dose (2.5-5 mg. day(-1)) lisinopril for a median of 46 months. These high-risk patients included those with hypotension, hyponatraemia, compromised renal function, the elderly and patients with diabetes mellitus at baseline. In the whole study population, high-dose lisinopril led to a trend in risk reduction of all-cause mortality (primary end-point P=0.128) and a significant risk reduction in all-cause mortality plus hospitalization (principal secondary end-point P=0.002). Subgroup analyses were performed for these end-points. There were no consistent interactions between age, baseline sodium, creatinine or potassium values, and treatment effect. Diabetics showed a beneficial response to high-dose therapy that was at least as good as that in non-diabetics. The underlying higher morbidity/mortality rates in diabetics mean that high-dose lisinopril has potential for a larger absolute clinical impact in these patients. CONCLUSION: Long-term high-dose lisinopril was as effective and well-tolerated in high-risk patients, including those with diabetes mellitus, as for the ATLAS study population as a whole.

Total body and serum electrolyte composition in heart failure: the effects of captopril.

We compared the long-term effects of captopril and placebo on patients with heart failure in a double blind crossover fashion. Serum and total body electrolytes were measured and the response to 6 week periods of treatment with captopril determined. During the placebo phase of the study, total body potassium was low at 92 +/- 14% of predicted normal (P less than 0.05) and total body sodium was high at 104 + 7% of predicted normal (P less than 0.05). Total body chlorine did not differ from predicted normal (99 + 12%). In those patients with active plasma renin concentrations above the normal range (greater than 50 microU ml-1) total body potassium was even more markedly deplete (85 + 13% of predicted normal). This group was also characterized by lower serum potassium and sodium concentrations and lower blood pressure. Total body potassium increased significantly on captopril, and the rise was greatest in those with the highest plasma renin concentrations during the placebo phase of the study. However, captopril had no significant effect on total body sodium and chlorine or weight indicating that no long-term natriuresis had occurred.