Introduction:
Little is known about the relationships between visit-to-visit BPV and HF sub-phenotypes, HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The aim of this analysis was to investigate the relationship of visit-to-visit systolic and diastolic BPV and risk of HF subtypes HFrEF and HFpEF in a large cohort of postmenopausal women.
Hypothesis:
We hypothesized that greater systolic and diastolic BPV would be associated with a higher risk for HFrEF and HFpEF.
Methods:
This study consisted of 23,918 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Hormone Therapy Trials. Blood pressure (BP) was measured at baseline (1993-1998) and then annually through 2005 by trained clinical staff. Variability was defined as the standard deviation of the mean BP across visits (SDm). The outcome was first HF hospitalization, which was adjudicated by physician review of medical records. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for HF endpoints with adjustments for demographic, medical history, lifestyle factors, antihypertensive medication use, mean systolic and diastolic BPs, and time-varying coronary events interim to HF hospitalization.
Results:
During a mean follow-up of 15.8 years, 913 incident cases of HFpEF and 421 cases of HFrEF were identified. In fully adjusted models, women in the highest quartile of SDm for systolic blood pressure were at higher risk of HFpEF [HR (95% CI): 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 1.12, 2.31)], but not HFrEF [1.18 (0.70,1.96)] compared to women in the lowest quartile of SDm. Higher SDm for diastolic blood pressure was not related to HFpEF [1.19 (0.85,1.65)] or HFrEF [1.56 (0.89,2.74)].
Conclusions:
Greater systolic BPV was associated with a higher risk of HFpEF independent of mean blood pressure and coronary events interim to HF hospitalization. These findings suggest that control of BPV may be a relevant target for the prevention of HFpEF in postmenopausal women.
Different Patterns of Bundle-Branch Blocks and the Risk of Incident Heart Failure in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Study
