Determinants of the survival benefit associated with statins in patients with acute heart failure

The benefit of statins in patients with heart failure (HF) remains controversial and the mechanism of action is largely speculative. We investigated the determinants of the survival benefit associated with statins in HF patients.

We enrolled 1680 acute HF patients receiving statins and 2157 patients not receiving statins admitted between 2009 and 2016. The left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) was assessed as a measure of myocardial contractility. The primary outcome was 5 year all-cause mortality. Statin therapy was independently associated with improved survival in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.781, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.621-0.981, P = 0.034], but not in those with HF with reduced EF (HFrEF) (adjusted HR 0.881, 95% CI 0.712-1.090, P = 0.244). Mortality reduction associated with statin therapy was significant in patients with ischaemic HF (adjusted HR 0.775, 95% CI 0.607-0.989, P = 0.040), but not in those with non-ischaemic HF (adjusted HR 0.895, 95% CI 0.734-1.092, P = 0.275). The relative magnitude of survival benefit with statin therapy increased as LV-EF and LV-GLS increased, with a steeper dose-response relationship in patients with ischaemic HF. In the subgroup of patients with ischaemic HF, survival benefit with statin therapy was confined to those ≤75 years of age.

Our study suggests that the survival benefit of statins is confined to patients with HFpEF and those with ischaemic HF. Myocardial contractility may modulate the prognostic effects of statins in HF patients, particularly when the aetiology is ischaemic rather than non-ischaemic.