Prognosis and diastolic dysfunction predictors in patients with heart failure and recovered ejection fraction

There is limited data on whether diastolic dysfunction in patients with heart failure (HF) and recovered ejection fraction (HFrecEF) is associated with worse prognosis. We retrospectively assessed 96 patients diagnosed with HFrecEF and created ROC curve of their diastolic function at the 1-year follow-up for the composite endpoint of cardiovascular death and HF readmission after the follow-up. Eligible patients were divided into two groups according to the cutoff value of E/e' ratio (12.1) with the highest AUC (0.70). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that HFrecEF with high E/e' group had a significantly poorer prognosis than the low E/e' group (log-rank, p = 0.01). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the high E/e' group was significantly related to the composite endpoint (hazard ratio 5.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23-24.1). The independent predictors at discharge for high E/e' ratio at the 1-year follow-up were older age and female sex after adjustment for covariates (odds ratio [OR] 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.13 and OR 4.70, 95% CI 1.08-20.5). In conclusion, HFrecEF with high E/e' ratio might be associated with a poor prognosis. Older age and female sex were independent predictors for a sustained high E/e' ratio in patients with HFrecEF.