External validation of the ACUTE HF score in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure

Recently, the ACUTE HF score has been developed as a new tool for predicting short and long term mortality in patients with acute heart failure (AHF). However, this. score has not yet been validated externally. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of ACUTE HF score in a different patient cohort.

We retrospectively enrolled all consecutive adult patients hospitalized due to AHF between January 2016 and January 2019. The ACUTE HF score is calculated by 7 different variables including age, creatinine, non-invasive ventilation, history of stroke or transient ischemic attack, left ventricular systolic function, mitral regurgitation and history of hospitalization.The primary endpoint of the study was in-hospital mortality.

A total of 418 AHF patients (mean age 70.2 ± 11.3 years, 52% male) were included, and 26 (6.2%) patients died during the in-hospital course. Patients in the study were divided into three groups according to ACUTE HF score: low-risk (<1.5, n = 210), intermediate-risk (1.5-3, n = 50), and high-risk groups (>3, n = 158). The multivariate analysis showed that the ACUTE HF score was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality(OR: 2.15; 95% CI, 0.94-4.34; p < 0.001).

The ACUTE HF score was a useful prognostic score for the prediction of in-hospital mortality in patients with AHF. Further validation studies in different regions of the world and with different AHF populations are needed to determine its generalisability.