Temporal variation in the prognosis and treatment of advanced heart failure - before and after 2000

The treatment of heart failure has evolved in recent decades suggesting that survival is increasing.

To verify whether there has been improvement in the survival of patients with advanced heart failure.

We retrospectively compared the treatment and follow-up data from two cohorts of patients with systolic heart failure admitted for compensation up to 2000 (n = 353) and after 2000 (n = 279). We analyzed in-hospital death, re-hospitalization and death in 1 year of follow-up. We used Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test for comparison between groups. The predictors of mortality were identified by regression analysis through Cox proportional hazards model and survival analysis by the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

The patients admitted until 2000 were younger, had lower left ventricular impairment and received a lower proportion of beta-blockers at discharge. The survival of patients hospitalized before 2000 was lower than those hospitalized after 2000 (40.1% vs. 67.4%; p<0.001). The independent predictors of mortality in the regression analysis were: Chagas disease (hazard ratio: 1.9; 95% confidence interval: 1.3-3.0), angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (hazard ratio: 0.6; 95% confidence interval: 0.4-0.9), beta-blockers (hazard ratio: 0.3; 95% confidence interval: 0.2-0.5), creatinine ≥ 1.4 mg/dL (hazard ratio: 2.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.3-3.0), serum sodium ≤ 135 mEq/L (hazard ratio: 1.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.2-2.7).

Patients with advanced heart failure showed a significant improvement in survival and reduction in re-hospitalizations. The neurohormonal blockade, with angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers, had an important role in increasing survival of these patients with advanced heart failure.