Therapeutic patient education and all-cause mortality in patients with chronic heart failure: a propensity analysis

Meta-analyses of disease management programs have shown favorable effects in chronic heart failure. Therapeutic patient education forms an integral part of these programs and may influence mortality per se. We aimed to determine the relationship between therapeutic patient education applied in routine clinical practice and long-term mortality in chronic heart failure.

From 2007 to 2010 (median follow-up: 27.2 months), heart failure patients were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter, 'real-world', French cohort by centers previously trained in therapeutic patient education. As educated and non-educated patient profiles were expected to differ, mortality was assessed using conventional multivariate analyses and analyses made on propensity-matched cohorts for the application of therapeutic patient education.

Of the 3237 patients who participated in the study (67.5 years; 69.5% men), 2347 were educated (72.5%) and 890 were not educated (27.5%). Non-educated patients were older, more often female, and more severely diseased than educated patients. All-cause mortality was 17.3% in the educated group vs. 31.0% in the non-educated group (adjusted HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.58-0.84, P<.001). This association remained in paired groups after adjustment for all baseline covariates excluding (model 1) or including (model 2) cardiovascular medications and propensity score (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.58-0.90, P=.003; HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.90, P=.004, respectively).

In chronic heart failure, therapeutic patient education by trained healthcare professionals appears associated with lower all-cause mortality. These data may have important implications in terms of healthcare organization, because they suggest that therapeutic patient education should be developed in all types of cardiology centers.