Impact of anaemia and iron deficiency on outcomes in cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction.

AIMS: Anaemia and iron deficiency (ID) are common comorbidities in cardiovascular patients and are associated with a poor clinical status, as well as a worse outcome in patients with heart failure and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Nevertheless, data concerning the impact of anaemia and ID on clinical outcomes in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) are scarce. This study aimed to assess the impact of anaemia and ID on clinical outcomes in patients with CS complicating AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS: The presence of anaemia (haemoglobin <13 g/dl in men and <12 g/dl in women) or ID (ferritin <100 ng/ml or transferrin saturation <20%) was determined in patients with CS due to AMI from the CULPRIT-SHOCK trial. Blood samples were collected in the catheterization laboratory during initial percutaneous coronary intervention. Clinical outcomes were compared in four groups of patients having neither anaemia nor ID, against patients with anaemia with or without ID and patients with ID only. A total of 427 CS patients were included in this analysis. Anaemia without ID was diagnosed in 93 (21.7%), anaemia with ID in 54 study participants (12.6%), ID without anaemia in 72 patients (16.8%), whereas in 208 patients neither anaemia nor ID was present (48.9%). CS patients with anaemia without ID were older (73 ± 10 years, p = 0.001), had more frequently a history of arterial hypertension (72.8%, p = 0.01), diabetes mellitus (47.8%, p = 0.001), as well as chronic kidney disease (14.1%, p = 0.004) compared to CS patients in other groups. Anaemic CS patients without ID presence were at higher risk to develop a composite from all-cause death or renal replacement therapy at 30-day follow-up (odds ratio [OR] 3.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.23-6.62, p < 0.001) than CS patients without anaemia/ID. The presence of ID in CS patients, with and without concomitant anaemia, did not increase the risk for the primary outcome (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.64-2.13, p = 0.64; and OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.59-1.73, p = 0.54; respectively) within 30 days of follow-up. In time-to-event Kaplan-Meier analysis, anaemic CS patients without ID had a significantly higher hazard ratio (HR) for the primary outcome (HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.52-2.89, p < 0.001), as well as for death from any cause (HR 1.90, 95% CI 1.36-2.65, p < 0.001) and renal replacement therapy during 30-day follow-up (HR 2.99, 95% CI 1.69-5.31, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Concomitant anaemia without ID presence in patients with CS at hospital presentation is associated with higher risk for death from any cause or renal replacement therapy and the individual components of this composite endpoint within 30 days after hospitalization. ID has no relevant impact on clinical outcomes in patients with CS.

Idiopathic Dilatation of the Right Atrium: Diagnosis and Management.

Idiopathic dilatation of the right atrium is a rare condition with an unknown etiology. It is characterized by a significant enlargement of the right atrium without the presence of other valvopathies, intracardiac shunts, or pulmonary hypertension. This report presents the case of a 50-year-old woman with a significantly enlarged right atrium that was identified at birth; however, a definitive diagnosis was made later in life. The patient did not have any genetic diseases. Through the help of regular follow-up, anticoagulant therapy, previous radio-frequency ablation, and antiarrhythmic medications, she was able to carry a pregnancy to full term and live a regular life.

Depression, anxiety, and quality of life as predictors of rehospitalization in patients with chronic heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a severe condition, often co-occurring with depression and anxiety, that strongly affects the quality of life (QoL) in some patients. Conversely, depressive and anxiety symptoms are associated with a 2-3 fold increase in mortality risk and were shown to act independently of typical risk factors in CHF progression. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of depression, anxiety, and QoL on the occurrence of rehospitalization within one year after discharge in CHF patients. METHODS: 148 CHF patients were enrolled in a 10-center, prospective, observational study. All patients completed two questionnaires, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Questionnaire Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36) at discharge timepoint. RESULTS: It was found that demographic and clinical characteristics are not associated with rehospitalization. Still, the levels of depression correlated with gender (p ≤ 0.027) and marital status (p ≤ 0.001), while the anxiety values ​​were dependent on the occurrence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, levels of depression (HADS-Depression) and anxiety (HADS-Anxiety) did not correlate with the risk of rehospitalization. Univariate logistic regression analysis results showed that rehospitalized patients had significantly lower levels of Bodily pain (BP, p = 0.014), Vitality (VT, p = 0.005), Social Functioning (SF, p = 0.007), and General Health (GH, p = 0.002). In the multivariate model, poor GH (OR 0.966, p = 0.005) remained a significant risk factor for rehospitalization, and poor General Health is singled out as the most reliable prognostic parameter for rehospitalization (AUC = 0.665, P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results suggest that QoL assessment complements clinical prognostic markers to identify CHF patients at high risk for adverse events. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered under http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01501981, first posted on 30/12/2011), sponsored by Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Relationship Between Azithromycin and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Unvaccinated Patients With COVID-19 and Preexisting Cardiovascular Disease.

Background Empiric antimicrobial therapy with azithromycin is highly used in patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, despite prior research suggesting that azithromycin may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. Methods and Results This study was conducted using data from the ISACS-COVID-19 (International Survey of Acute Coronavirus Syndromes-COVID-19) registry. Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection were eligible for inclusion. The study included 793 patients exposed to azithromycin within 24 hours from hospital admission and 2141 patients who received only standard care. The primary exposure was cardiovascular disease (CVD). Main outcome measures were 30-day mortality and acute heart failure (AHF). Among 2934 patients, 1066 (36.4%) had preexisting CVD. A total of 617 (21.0%) died, and 253 (8.6%) had AHF. Azithromycin therapy was consistently associated with an increased risk of AHF in patients with preexisting CVD (risk ratio [RR], 1.48 [95% CI, 1.06-2.06]). Receiving azithromycin versus standard care was not significantly associated with death (RR, 0.94 [95% CI, 0.69-1.28]). By contrast, we found significantly reduced odds of death (RR, 0.57 [95% CI, 0.42-0.79]) and no significant increase in AHF (RR, 1.23 [95% CI, 0.75-2.04]) in patients without prior CVD. The relative risks of death from the 2 subgroups were significantly different from each other (Pinteraction=0.01). Statistically significant association was observed between AHF and death (odds ratio, 2.28 [95% CI, 1.34-3.90]). Conclusions These findings suggest that azithromycin use in patients with COVID-19 and prior history of CVD is significantly associated with an increased risk of AHF and all-cause 30-day mortality. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT05188612.

Bone status in men with heart failure: results from the Studies Investigating Co-morbidities Aggravating Heart Failure.

AIM: To assess bone status expressed as hip bone mineral density (BMD) in men with heart failure (HF). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 141 male patients with HF underwent dual energy X-ray absorptiometry to assess their BMD. We analysed markers of bone metabolism. Patients were classified as lower versus higher BMD according to the median hip BMD (median = 1.162 g/cm2 ). Survival was assessed over 8 years of follow-up. Patients with lower BMD were older (71 ± 10 vs. 66 ± 9 years, p = 0.004), more likely to be sarcopenic (37% vs. 7%, p < 0.001) and to have lower peak oxygen consumption (absolute peak VO2 1373 ± 480 vs. 1676 ± 447 ml/min, p < 0.001), had higher osteoprotegerin and osteocalcin levels (both p < 0.05) compared to patients with higher BMD. Among 47 patients with repeated BMD assessments, a significant reduction in BMD was noted over 30 months of follow-up. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, serum osteocalcin remained independently related with lower BMD (odds ratio [OR] 1.738, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.136-2.660, p = 0.011). Hip BMD and serum osteoprotegerin were independent predictors of impaired survival on Cox proportional hazard analysis (hazard ratio [HR] 0.069, 95% CI 0.011-0.444, p = 0.005, and HR 0.638, 95% CI 0.472-0.864, p = 0.004, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HF lose BMD over time. Markers of bone turnover can help in identifying patients at risk with osteocalcin being an independent marker of lower hip BMD and osteoprotegerin an independent predictor of death. HF patients with increased osteocalcin and osteoprotegerin may benefit from BMD assessment as manifest osteoporosis seems to be too late for clinically meaningful intervention in HF.

Sex differences and disparities in cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19.

AIMS: Previous analyses on sex differences in case fatality rates at population-level data had limited adjustment for key patient clinical characteristics thought to be associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes. We aimed to estimate the risk of specific organ dysfunctions and mortality in women and men. METHODS AND RESULTS: This retrospective cross-sectional study included 17 hospitals within 5 European countries participating in the International Survey of Acute Coronavirus Syndromes COVID-19 (NCT05188612). Participants were individuals hospitalized with positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from March 2020 to February 2022. Risk-adjusted ratios (RRs) of in-hospital mortality, acute respiratory failure (ARF), acute heart failure (AHF), and acute kidney injury (AKI) were calculated for women vs. men. Estimates were evaluated by inverse probability weighting and logistic regression models. The overall care cohort included 4499 patients with COVID-19-associated hospitalizations. Of these, 1524 (33.9%) were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU), and 1117 (24.8%) died during hospitalization. Compared with men, women were less likely to be admitted to ICU [RR: 0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-0.91]. In general wards (GWs) and ICU cohorts, the adjusted women-to-men RRs for in-hospital mortality were of 1.13 (95% CI: 0.90-1.42) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.70-1.05; pinteraction = 0.04). Development of AHF, AKI, and ARF was associated with increased mortality risk (odds ratios: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.73-2.98; 3.85, 95% CI: 3.21-4.63; and 3.95, 95% CI: 3.04-5.14, respectively). The adjusted RRs for AKI and ARF were comparable among women and men regardless of intensity of care. In contrast, female sex was associated with higher odds for AHF in GW, but not in ICU (RRs: 1.25; 95% CI: 0.94-1.67 vs. 0.83; 95% CI: 0.59-1.16, pinteraction = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Women in GW were at increased risk of AHF and in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 compared with men. For patients receiving ICU care, fatal complications including AHF and mortality appeared to be independent of sex. Equitable access to COVID-19 ICU care is needed to minimize the unfavourable outcome of women presenting with COVID-19-related complications.

Soluble ST2 Receptor: Biomarker of Left Ventricular Impairment and Functional Status in Patients with Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy.

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory cardiomyopathy (ICM) frequently leads to myocardial fibrosis, resulting in permanent deterioration of the left ventricular function and an unfavorable outcome. Soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 receptor (sST2) is a novel marker of inflammation and fibrosis in cardiovascular tissues. sST2 was found to be helpful in predicting adverse outcomes in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction. The aim of this study was to determine the association of sST2 plasma levels with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and echocardiography imaging features of left ventricular impairment in ICM patients, as well as to evaluate the applicability of sST2 as a prognosticator of the clinical status in patients suffering from ICM. METHODS: We used plasma samples of 89 patients presenting to the Heart Center Leipzig with clinically suspected myocardial inflammation. According to immunohistochemical findings in endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) conducted in the context of patients' diagnostic work-up, inflammatory cardiomyopathy was diagnosed in 60 patients (ICM group), and dilated cardiomyopathy in 29 patients (DCM group). All patients underwent cardiac catheterization for exclusion of coronary artery disease and CMR imaging on 1.5 or 3 Tesla. sST2 plasma concentration was determined using ELISA. RESULTS: Mean plasma concentration of sST2 in the whole patient cohort was 45.8 ± 26.4 ng/mL (IQR 27.5 ng/mL). In both study groups, patients within the highest quartile of sST2 plasma concentration had a significantly lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LV-EF) compared to patients within the lowest sST2 plasma concentration quartile (26 ± 11% vs. 40 ± 13%, p = 0.05 for ICM and 24 ± 13% vs. 51 ± 10%, p = 0.004 for DCM). sST2 predicted New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III/IV at 12 months follow-up more efficiently in ICM compared to DCM patients (AUC 0.85 vs. 0.61, p = 0.02) and was in these terms superior to NT-proBNP and cardiac troponin T. ICM patients with sST2 plasma concentration higher than 44 ng/mL at baseline had a significantly higher probability of being assigned to NYHA class III/IV at 12 months follow-up (hazard ratio 2.8, 95% confidence interval 1.01-7.6, log rank p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Plasma sST2 levels in ICM patients reflect the degree of LV functional impairment at hospital admission and predict functional NYHA class at mid-term follow-up. Hence, ST2 may be helpful in the evaluation of disease severity and in the prediction of the clinical status in ICM patients.

Temporary mechanical circulatory support in cardiogenic shock.

Cardiogenic shock (CS) represents one of the foremost concerns in the field of acute cardiovascular medicine. Despite major advances in treatment, mortality of CS remains high. International societies recommend the development of expert CS centers with standardized protocols for CS diagnosis and treatment. In these terms, devices for temporary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) can be used to support the compromised circulation and could improve clinical outcome in selected patient populations presenting with CS. In the past years, we have witnessed an immense increase in the utilization of MCS devices to improve the clinical problem of low cardiac output. Although some treatment guidelines include the use of temporary MCS up to now no large randomized controlled trial confirmed a reduction in mortality in CS patients after MCS and additional research evidence is necessary to fully comprehend the clinical value of MCS in CS. In this article, we provide an overview of the most important diagnostic and therapeutic modalities in CS with the main focus on contemporary MCS devices, current state of art and scientific evidence for its clinical application and outline directions of future research efforts.

Heart failure in COVID-19: the multicentre, multinational PCHF-COVICAV registry.

AIMS: We assessed the outcome of hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with heart failure (HF) compared with patients with other cardiovascular disease and/or risk factors (arterial hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidaemia). We further wanted to determine the incidence of HF events and its consequences in these patient populations. METHODS AND RESULTS: International retrospective Postgraduate Course in Heart Failure registry for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and CArdioVascular disease and/or risk factors (arterial hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidaemia) was performed in 28 centres from 15 countries (PCHF-COVICAV). The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Of 1974 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 1282 had cardiovascular disease and/or risk factors (median age: 72 [interquartile range: 62-81] years, 58% male), with HF being present in 256 [20%] patients. Overall in-hospital mortality was 25% (n = 323/1282 deaths). In-hospital mortality was higher in patients with a history of HF (36%, n = 92) compared with non-HF patients (23%, n = 231, odds ratio [OR] 1.93 [95% confidence interval: 1.44-2.59], P < 0.001). After adjusting, HF remained associated with in-hospital mortality (OR 1.45 [95% confidence interval: 1.01-2.06], P = 0.041). Importantly, 186 of 1282 [15%] patients had an acute HF event during hospitalization (76 [40%] with de novo HF), which was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (89 [48%] vs. 220 [23%]) than in patients without HF event (OR 3.10 [2.24-4.29], P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalized COVID-19 patients with HF are at increased risk for in-hospital death. In-hospital worsening of HF or acute HF de novo are common and associated with a further increase in in-hospital mortality.

Rapid Exclusion of COVID Infection With the Artificial Intelligence Electrocardiogram.

OBJECTIVE: To rapidly exclude severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection using artificial intelligence applied to the electrocardiogram (ECG). METHODS: A global, volunteer consortium from 4 continents identified patients with ECGs obtained around the time of polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and age- and sex-matched controls from the same sites. Clinical characteristics, polymerase chain reaction results, and raw electrocardiographic data were collected. A convolutional neural network was trained using 26,153 ECGs (33.2% COVID positive), validated with 3826 ECGs (33.3% positive), and tested on 7870 ECGs not included in other sets (32.7% positive). Performance under different prevalence values was tested by adding control ECGs from a single high-volume site. RESULTS: The area under the curve for detection of acute COVID-19 infection in the test group was 0.767 (95% CI, 0.756 to 0.778; sensitivity, 98%; specificity, 10%; positive predictive value, 37%; negative predictive value, 91%). To more accurately reflect a real-world population, 50,905 normal controls were added to adjust the COVID prevalence to approximately 5% (2657/58,555), resulting in an area under the curve of 0.780 (95% CI, 0.771 to 0.790) with a specificity of 12.1% and a negative predictive value of 99.2%. CONCLUSION: Infection with SARS-CoV-2 results in electrocardiographic changes that permit the artificial intelligence-enhanced ECG to be used as a rapid screening test with a high negative predictive value (99.2%). This may permit the development of electrocardiography-based tools to rapidly screen individuals for pandemic control.

Iron deficiency in heart failure.

Iron deficiency is a major heart failure co-morbidity present in about 50% of patients with stable heart failure irrespective of the left ventricular function. Along with compromise of daily activities, it also increases patient morbidity and mortality, which is independent of anaemia. Several trials have established parenteral iron supplementation as an important complimentary therapy to improve patient well-being and physical performance. Intravenous iron preparations, in the first-line ferric carboxymaltose, demonstrated in previous clinical trials superior clinical effect in comparison with oral iron preparations, improving New York Heart Association functional class, 6 min walk test distance, peak oxygen consumption, and quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure. Beneficial effect of iron deficiency treatment on morbidity and mortality of heart failure patients is waiting for conformation in ongoing trials. Although the current guidelines for treatment of chronic and acute heart failure acknowledge importance of iron deficiency correction and recommend intravenous iron supplementation for its treatment, iron deficiency remains frequently undertreated and insufficiently diagnosed in setting of the chronic heart failure. This paper highlights the current state of the art in the pathophysiology of iron deficiency, associations with heart failure trajectory and outcome, and an overview of current guideline-suggested treatment options.

Performance of a cardiac lipid panel compared to four prognostic scores in chronic heart failure.

The cardiac lipid panel (CLP) is a novel panel of metabolomic biomarkers that has previously shown to improve the diagnostic and prognostic value for CHF patients. Several prognostic scores have been developed for cardiovascular disease risk, but their use is limited to specific populations and precision is still inadequate. We compared a risk score using the CLP plus NT-proBNP to four commonly used risk scores: The Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM), Framingham risk score (FRS), Barcelona bio-HF (BCN Bio-HF) and Meta-Analysis Global Group in Chronic Heart Failure (MAGGIC) score. We included 280 elderly CHF patients from the Cardiac Insufficiency Bisoprolol Study in Elderly trial. Cox Regression and hierarchical cluster analysis was performed. Integrated area under the curves (IAUC) was used as criterium for comparison. The mean (SD) follow-up period was 81 (33) months, and 95 (34%) subjects met the primary endpoint. The IAUC for FRS was 0.53, SHFM 0.61, BCN Bio-HF 0.72, MAGGIC 0.68, and CLP 0.78. Subjects were partitioned into three risk clusters: low, moderate, high with the CLP score showing the best ability to group patients into their respective risk cluster. A risk score composed of a novel panel of metabolite biomarkers plus NT-proBNP outperformed other common prognostic scores in predicting 10-year cardiovascular death in elderly ambulatory CHF patients. This approach could improve the clinical risk assessment of CHF patients.

Pneumonia in medical professionals during COVID-19 outbreak in cardiovascular hospital.

OBJECTIVES: The pandemic of coronavirus associated disease (COVID-19) placed the health care workers at high risk. We investigated clinical and treatment characteristics of infected medical professionals in a cardiovascular hospital. METHODS: The study was retrospective, conducted in tertiary cardiovascular hospital and included employees with confirmed coronavirus infection. They filled out a questionnaire about health status, symptoms, admission to hospital and treatment. The vaccination status against tuberculosis, hepatitis B and seasonal influenza was assessed. Pneumonia was defined as CT finding of ground glass opacifications (GGO) with consolidations typical for COVID-19. RESULTS: The study included 107 confirmed cases of COVID - 19 out of 726 employees (15%). Most of the infected were from cardiac surgery department (74/107, 69%). Substantial number of employees did not have any symptoms [31 (28.9%)] and 38 patients (35.5%) were admitted to hospital. The average hospital length of stay was 8.1 ± 5.6 days. Seventy-five of 107 (70.1%) received seasonal influenza vaccine. Pneumonia with CT features of GGO and consolidation occurred in 25/107 (23.4%) patients of which 14/107 (13.1%) had bilateral involvement. In multivariate logistic regression analysis including recognized characteristics associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 (obesity, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, current smoking, heart failure, influenza immunization), only influenza immunization remained an independent predictor of occurrence of bilateral pneumonia (OR 0.207; 95%CI[0.050 - 0.847]; p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: The association of influenza immunization and less aggressive form of pneumonia might provide a finding that supports the institution of preventive measures that can be beneficial in reduction of global coronavirus burden.

Incremental prognostic value of a novel metabolite-based biomarker score in congestive heart failure patients.

AIMS: The Cardiac Lipid Panel (CLP) is a newly discovered panel of metabolite-based biomarkers that has shown to improve the diagnostic value of N terminal pro B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). However, little is known about its usefulness in predicting outcomes. In this study, we developed a risk score for 4-year cardiovascular death in elderly chronic heart failure (CHF) patients using the CLP. METHODS AND RESULTS: From the Cardiac Insufficiency Bisoprolol Study in Elderly trial, we included 280 patients with CHF aged >65 years. A targeted metabolomic analysis of the CLP biomarkers was performed on baseline serum samples. Cox regression was used to determine the association of the biomarkers with the outcome after accounting for established risk factors. A risk score ranging from 0 to 4 was calculated by counting the number of biomarkers above the cut-offs, using Youden index. During the mean (standard deviation) follow-up period of 50 (8) months, 35 (18%) subjects met the primary endpoint of cardiovascular death. The area under the receiver operating curve for the model based on clinical variables was 0.84, the second model with NT-proBNP was 0.86, and the final model with the CLP was 0.90. The categorical net reclassification index was 0.25 using three risk categories: 0-60% (low), 60-85% (intermediate), and >85% (high). The continuous net reclassification index was 0.772, and the integrated discrimination index was 0.104. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with CHF, incorporating a panel of three metabolite-based biomarkers into a risk score improved the prognostic utility of NT-proBNP by predicting long-term cardiovascular death more precisely. This novel approach holds promise to improve clinical risk assessment in CHF patients.

Soluble (pro)renin receptor in elderly chronic heart failure patients.

Overactivation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is one of the main pathophysiological features in the evolution of chronic heart failure (CHF). The (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR) represents an important player in a tissue renin-angiotensin system (tissue RAS), which mediates tissue injury through fibrosis and hypertrophy of the affected organs in CHF patients. In our study we used plasma samples from 556 elderly subjects with CHF and 198 healthy participants in order to evaluate prognostic and diagnostic potential of s(P)RR in setting of CHF. The patients with CHF showed significantly higher plasma levels of s(P)RR than the healthy volunteers (p=0.0005). We observed association between higher s(P)RR plasma concentrations and lower left ventricular ejection fraction and higher degree of left ventricular dilatation on baseline echocardiography examination of the CHF patients. Elderly CHF patients with higher baseline s(P)RR plasma concentration were at same risk for death, stroke and hospitalization due to heart failure worsening at mean follow-up from forty-eight months in comparison to low s(P)RR counterparts.

Bone in heart failure.

There is an increasing interest in osteoporosis and reduced bone mineral density affecting not only post-menopausal women but also men, particularly with coexisting chronic diseases. Bone status in patients with stable chronic heart failure (HF) has been rarely studied so far. HF and osteoporosis are highly prevalent aging-related syndromes that exact a huge impact on society. Both disorders are common causes of loss of function and independence, and of prolonged hospitalizations, presenting a heavy burden on the health care system. The most devastating complication of osteoporosis is hip fracture, which is associated with high mortality risk and among those who survive, leads to a loss of function and independence often necessitating admission to long-term care. Current HF guidelines do not suggest screening methods or patient education in terms of osteoporosis or osteoporotic fracture. This review may serve as a solid base to discuss the need for bone health evaluation in HF patients.

Micronutrient Depletion in Heart Failure: Common, Clinically Relevant and Treatable.

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic condition with many imbalances, including nutritional issues. Next to sarcopenia and cachexia which are clinically evident, micronutrient deficiency is also present in HF. It is involved in HF pathophysiology and has prognostic implications. In general, most widely known micronutrients are depleted in HF, which is associated with symptoms and adverse outcomes. Nutritional intake is important but is not the only factor reducing the micronutrient availability for bodily processes, because absorption, distribution, and patient comorbidity may play a major role. In this context, interventional studies with parenteral micronutrient supplementation provide evidence that normalization of micronutrients is associated with improvement in physical performance and quality of life. Outcome studies are underway and should be reported in the following years.

Early NT-proBNP and MR-proANP associated with QoL 1 year after acutely decompensated heart failure: secondary analysis from the MOLITOR trial.

Aim: Heart failure negatively impacts quality of life (QoL), which in turn contributes to an adverse long-term prognosis. We aimed at identifying biomarker trajectories after an episode of acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF) that differ between patients showing average versus impaired QoL 1 year later, thus allowing to predict impaired QoL. Methods: Biomarkers were repeatedly measured throughout the year in 104 ADHF patients. QoL was assessed at discharge and 1 year after ADHF. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to identify predictors of impaired QoL while controlling psychosocial confounders. Results: MR-proANP predicted impaired physical and mental QoL. NT-proBNP measurements were important predictors for poor physical QoL. Conclusion: MR-proANP and NT-proBNP predict poor QoL after an epidode of ADHF. The trial is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov as MOLITOR (IMpact of therapy optimisation On the Level of biomarkers in paTients with Acute and Decompensated ChrOnic HeaRt Failure) with unique identifier: NCT01501981.