β-Blockade in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Does Heart Rate Control Influence Readmissions?

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-45
Author(s):  
Ryan E. Owens ◽  
Jennifer D. Twilla ◽  
Timothy H. Self ◽  
Abdulrahman I. Alshaya ◽  
Carlvin J. Metra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Hospital Readmissions ◽  
Maximum Tolerated Dose ◽  
Target Dose ◽  
Readmission Rates ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Β Blocker ◽  
The Impact

Background: Raised resting heart rate (HR), >70 beats per minute (bpm), has been shown to be a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes and hospital readmissions, specifically in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF rEF). Given their mortality benefit, β-blockers are recommended in HF rEF, with a goal to titrate to a maximum tolerated dose rather than a specific HR target. Objective: To determine the impact of optimal HR control achievement prior to hospital discharge on hospital readmissions in patients with HF rEF receiving β-blockade. Methods: A retrospective study of patients admitted to 5 adult hospitals within a large urban health-care system, between 2013 and 2015, was conducted. Patients were identified via International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision ( ICD-9) coding for acute on chronic HF rEF. Results: Of the 225 patients included, 20% achieved optimal HR control (n = 46, HR <70 bpm; n = 179, HR ≥70 bpm) and only 15% received β-blocker titration during hospital admission. Of note, 25% of patients receiving ≥50% target dose (n = 79) and 28% receiving 100% target dose (n = 39) achieved optimal HR control. At 30 days, patients with an HR <70 bpm versus HR ≥70 bpm exhibited similar readmission rates (9% vs 11%, respectively; P > .99) and ED visits (11% vs 8%, respectively; P = .57). Conclusions: Readmission rates were similar among patients with HF rEF despite the majority failing to achieve optimal HR control from β-blockade. However, β-blocker dosing remains suboptimal relative to guideline-recommended target doses. Opportunities exist for inpatient clinicians to optimize β-blockade in an attempt to achieve HR control.

scholarly journals β-Blocker Doses and Heart Rate in Patients with Heart Failure: Results from the National Norwegian Heart Failure Registry

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Torfinn Eriksen-Volnes ◽  
Arne Westheim ◽  
Lars Gullestad ◽  
Eva Kjøl Slind ◽  
Morten Grundtvig
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Sinus Rhythm ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Left Ventricular Ejection ◽  
Categorical Variables ◽  
Target Dose ◽  
Β Blocker ◽  
Β Blockers

Background: Use of β-blockers and titration to the highest tolerated dose are highly recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for treatment of chronic heart failure (HF) with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), but little attention has been paid to the achieved heart rate (HR) during this treatment. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine the achieved HR in relation to the use of β-blockers in these patients. Methods: All of the patients (n = 2,689) in the National Norwegian Heart Failure Registry as part of the Norwegian Cardiovascular Disease Registry with a sinus rhythm and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <40% at stable follow-up visiting specialised hospital outpatient HF clinics in Norway were included. The β-blocker doses were calculated as a percent of the target dose according to ESC HF guidelines. Differences between baseline variables according to the achieved HR were analysed by the Student’s t test for continuous variables and Pearson’s χ2 test for categorical variables. Linear regression was used to determine the predictors of HR ≥70 beats/min (bpm) in the multivariate analysis. Results: One third of the patients had a resting HR ≥70 bpm. Of the patients with an HR ≥70 bpm, 72.3% used less than the target dose of β-blocker; they were younger and had a higher NYHA class, more diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and higher N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and estimated glomerular filtration rates compared to the patients with an HR <70 bpm. The 1-year mortality was 3.1, 3.7, 5.8, and 9.1% among the patients with an HR <70, 70–79, 80–89, and >89 bpm, respectively. Only 2 patients used ivabradine. Conclusions: In patients with HFrEF and sinus rhythm, an HR ≥70 bpm was associated with worse clinical variables and outcomes. A high proportion of the patients who had an HR ≥70 bpm was not treated with or/did not tolerate the target dose of a β-blocker, although the β-blocker dose was higher than in patients with an HR <70 bpm. This may suggest that increased efforts should be made to further increase the β-blocker dose, and treatment with ivabradine could be considered among patients with an HR ≥70 bpm.

scholarly journals Association Between the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and Heart Failure Subtype Readmissions and Mortality in the USA

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-66
Author(s):  
Wasiq Sheikh ◽  
Malik Bilal Ahmed ◽  
Anshul Parulkar ◽  
Tamara Lhungay ◽  
Esseim Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Hospital Readmissions ◽  
Home Healthcare ◽  
Inpatient Mortality ◽  
Readmission Rates ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Reduction Program ◽  
The Usa

Background: The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) sought to reduce readmissions by penalising centres with readmissions above the national average, and heart failure (HF) is the leading driver of the readmission penalty. Recent Medicare analyses question the effectiveness of this strategy. This study evaluated the efficacy of HRRP by utilising large national datasets and is the first to analyse based on heart failure subtypes. Methods: Aggregate data was used from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to study mortality and the National Readmissions Database (NRD) to study readmissions. Both included all payer-types and were stratified by heart failure subtype and time (pre- and post-HRRP implementation). Results: Patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) tended to be older females with a higher proportion of comorbidities compared to patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In the post-HRRP period, readmission rates decreased for HFrEF (21.4% versus 22.3%, p<0.001) and HFpEF (21.2% versus 22.4%, p<0.001); readmission rates for the two subtypes were not statistically different compared to the other. Post-HRRP, inpatient mortality was consistent for HFrEF (2.8% versus 2.8%, p=0.087), but decreased for HFpEF (2.4% versus 2.5%, p=0.029). There were no significant differences noted in average length of stay. Patients with HFrEF were more frequently discharged to short-term hospitals or home with home healthcare, and patients with HFpEF were discharged to skilled nursing facilities more often. Estimated inpatient costs decreased in both subtypes post-HRRP, but readmission costs were higher for HFrEF. Conclusions: This study suggests that HRRP was associated with minimal change in readmission and inpatient mortality.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Claims-Based Quality Assessment: The Case of Postdischarge β-Blocker Treatment in Patients With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Gilstrap ◽  
Jonathan S. Skinner ◽  
Barbara Gladders ◽  
A. James O’Malley, ◽  
Amber E. Barnato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Quality Metrics ◽  
Quality Performance ◽  
Part D ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Quality Metric ◽  
Β Blocker ◽  
The Impact

Background: To combat the high cost and increasing burden of quality reporting, the Medicare Payment Advisory (MedPAC) has recommended using claims data wherever possible to measure clinical quality. In this article, we use a cohort of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and existing quality metrics to explore the impact of changes in quality metric methodology on measured quality performance, the association with patient outcomes, and hospital rankings. Methods and Results: We used 100% Medicare Parts A and B and a random 40% sample of Part D from 2008 to 2015 to create (1) a cohort of 295 494 fee-for-service beneficiaries with ≥1 hospitalization for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and (2) a cohort of 1079 hospitals with ≥11 heart failure with reduced ejection fraction admissions in 2014 and 2015. We used Part D data to calculate β-blocker use after discharge and β-blocker use over time. We then varied the quality metric methodologies to explore the impact on measured performance. We then used multivariable time-to-event analyses to explore the impact of metric methodology on the association between quality performance and patient outcomes and Kendall’s Tau to describe impact of quality metric methodology on hospital rankings. We found that quality metric methodology had a significant impact on measured quality performance. The association between quality performance and readmissions was sensitive to changes in methodology but the association with 1-year mortality was not. Changes in quality metric methodology also had a substantial impact on hospital quality rankings. Conclusions: This article highlights how small changes in quality metric methodology can have a significant impact on measured quality performance, the association between quality performance and utilization-based outcomes, and hospital rankings. These findings highlight the need for standardized quality metric methodologies, better case-mix adjustment and cast further doubt on the use of utilization-based outcomes as quality metrics in chronic diseases.

scholarly journals Heart rate reduction and exercise performance in recent onset heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: arguments for beta-blocker hypo-response

2015 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-572
Author(s):  
Frederik H. Verbrugge ◽  
Jeroen Vrijsen ◽  
Jan Vercammen ◽  
Lars Grieten ◽  
Matthias Dupont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Beta Blocker ◽  
Exercise Performance ◽  
Heart Rate Reduction ◽  
Rate Reduction ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Recent Onset

Abstract 15566: Autonomic Modulation by Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Who Benefits?

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine F Notarius ◽  
Daniel A Keir ◽  
Mark B Badrov ◽  
Philip J Millar ◽  
Paul Oh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Cardiac Rehabilitation ◽  
Perceived Exertion ◽  
Group Interaction ◽  
Moderate Intensity ◽  
Autonomic Modulation ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Leg Cycling

Introduction: Elevated muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) both at rest and during dynamic cycling relates inversely to peak oxygen uptake (VO 2peak ) in patients with heart failure due to a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We observed a drop in MSNA both rest (-6±2 bursts/min) and mild exercise (-4±2) in HFrEF patients after 6 months of cardiac rehabilitation. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that after training those HFrEF patients with LOW VO2peak (less than median 74% of age predicted) would have a larger decrease in MSNA during dynamic exercise than those with HIGH VO2peak (over 74%). Methods: In 21 optimally treated HFrEF patients (5 Female) (13 HIGH: mean VO 2peak =26 ml·kg/min; 98% of predicted; 8 LOW VO 2peak =12; 50%) we assessed VO 2peak (open-circuit spirometry), heart rate variability (HRV) and fibular MSNA (microneurography) at rest, during 1-leg cycling (2 min each of mild and moderate intensity upright 1-leg cycling, n=19) and recovery before and after 6 months of exercise training (45 min aerobic exercise, 5 days/ wk at 60-70 % of VO 2peak; and resistance training 2 days/wk). Results: HIGH and LOW groups had similar age (63±3 vs 63±4 years) , LVEF (30±2 vs 28±3%), BMI, resting heart rate (HR), blood pressure and MSNA (52±3 vs 50±3 bursts/min). Training increased VO 2peak in both groups (main effect P=0.009), with no group difference in HR response or ratings of perceived exertion. MSNA at rest tended to decrease after training in the HIGH but not LOW group (interaction P=0.08). MSNA during cycling increased in both HIGH (P=0.04) and LOW (P<0.001) groups but was blunted post-training in the HIGH group only (P=0.04 vs. 0.90 in LOW). Training-induced sympatho-inhibition during exercise recovery occurred in the HIGH but not LOW group (interaction P=0.01). In contrast, HRV was not improved by training in either group. Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, the sympatho-inhibitory effect of 6 months of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation favours HFrEF patients with an already normal VO 2peak . This suggests that increasing initially low VO 2peak may be insufficient to trigger beneficial exercise and recovery autonomic modulation and altered training paradigms may be required in such patients. Funded by Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)

Abstract 12849: Changes in N-terminal Pro Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels Predicts Mortality and Heart Failure Hospitalization in Patients With Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction

Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluigi Savarese ◽  
Camilla Hage ◽  
Ulf Dahlström ◽  
Pasquale Perrone-Filardi ◽  
Lars H Lund
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Brain Natriuretic Peptide ◽  
Natriuretic Peptide ◽  
Total Mortality ◽  
Preserved Ejection Fraction ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Patients With Heart Failure ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: Changes in N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) have been demonstrated to correlate with outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced ejection fraction (EF). However the prognostic value of a change in NT-proBNP in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is unknown. Hypothesis: To assess the impact of changes in NT-proBNP on all-cause mortality, HF hospitalization and their composite in an unselected population of patients with HFPEF. Methods: 643 outpatients (age 72+12 years; 41% females) with HFPEF (ejection fraction ≥40%) enrolled in the Swedish Heart Failure Registry between 2005 and 2012 and reporting NT-proBNP levels assessment at initial registration and at follow-up were prospectively studied. Patients were divided into 2 groups according the median value of NT-proBNP absolute change that was 0 pg/ml. Median follow-up from first measurement was 2.25 years (IQR: 1.43 to 3.81). Adjusted Cox’s regression models were performed using total mortality, HF hospitalization (with censoring at death) and their composite as outcomes. Results: After adjustments for 19 baseline variables including baseline NT-proBNP, as compared with an increase in NT-proBNP levels at 6 months (NT-proBNP change>0 pg/ml), a reduction in NT-proBNP levels (NT-proBNP change<0 pg/ml) was associated with a 45.2% reduction in risk of all-cause death (HR: 0.548; 95% CI: 0.378 to 0.796; p:0.002), a 50.1% reduction in risk of HF hospitalization (HR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.362 to 0.689; p<0.001) and a 42.6% reduction in risk of the composite outcome (HR: 0.574; 95% CI: 0.435 to 0.758; p<0.001)(Figure). Conclusions: Reductions in NT-proBNP levels over time are independently associated with an improved prognosis in HFPEF patients. Changes in NT-proBNP could represent a surrogate outcome in phase 2 HFPEF trials.

Comparison of the prognosis and outcome of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients treated with sacubitril/valsartan according to age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Abumayyaleh ◽  
Ibrahim El-Battrawy ◽  
Marvin Kummer ◽  
Christina Pilsinger ◽  
Katherine Sattler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Chronic Heart Failure ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Adult Patients ◽  
Left Ventricular Ejection ◽  
Ventricular Ejection Fraction ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
The Impact

The treatment with sacubitril/valsartan in patients suffering from chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction increases left ventricular ejection fraction and decreases the risk of sudden cardiac death. We conducted a retrospective analysis regarding the impact of age differences on the treatment outcome of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Patients were defined as adults if ≤65 years (n = 51) and older if >65 years of age (n = 76). The incidence of ventricular arrhythmias at 1-year follow-up was comparable in both groups (30.8 vs 26.5%; p = 0.71). The mortality rate in adult patients is significantly lower as compared with older patients (2 vs 14.5%; log-rank = 0.04). Older patients may suffer remarkably more side effects than adult patients (21.1 vs 11.8%; p = 0.03).

HFrEF pharmacological treatment: ivabradine

ESC CardioMed ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1863-1867
Author(s):  
Michel Komajda
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Chronic Heart Failure ◽  
Ejection Fraction ◽  
Sinus Rhythm ◽  
Pharmacological Treatment ◽  
Beta Blockers ◽  
Reduced Ejection Fraction ◽  
Background Therapy

Ivabradine slows down the heart rate through a blockade of the funny current channels in the sinoatrial node cells. The efficacy of the drug was tested in a large outcome clinical trial in stable chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, in sinus rhythm, on a contemporary background therapy including beta blockers.

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