Abstract
Funding Acknowledgements
Type of funding sources: None.
Background
Acute heart failure is one of the most common causes of cardiovascular hospitalization. An important factor in the prevention of re-admissions is the optimal medical therapy of heart failure patients.
Purpose
To evaluate medication in patients after hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure.
Methods
We studied consecutive patients who admitted and discharged from two tertiary hospitals due to decompensated heart failure from June 2019 to December 2020. Their medication was recorded at the time of discharge and one month later.
Results
Overall, 730 patients (61% men), with mean age of 77 ± 12 years, were studied. At discharge, the vast majority of the patients (94%) received diuretic, while 45% of them received either angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) or sacubitril/valsartan (20%, 12% and 13%, respectively). 74% of the patients received b-blockers, half of the patients (51%) received aldosterone antagonists, 12% Sodium-glucose Cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) , 6% cardiac glycosides, and only 3% ibavradine. In one month of reassessment, the corresponding percentages were: 90% diuretics, 25% ACEI, 16% ARB, 18% sacubitril/valsartan, 78% b-blockers, 53% aldosterone antagonists, 14% SGLT2i, 4% cardiac glycosides and 3% ibavradine. Despite the low dosing regimens at discharge, after one month, the majority of the patients already receiving ACEI, ARB, sacubitril/valsartan and beta-blockers were up-titrated, while a dose reduction was noticed on diuretics in almost all patients.
Conclusion
There are still considerable margins to improve management of the optimal medical treatment of patients who discharge from hospital after acute heart failure.
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