Impact of heart failure on outcomes in patients with sepsis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Heart failure (HF) often affects the progress of sepsis patients, although its impact on outcomes is inconsistent and inconclusive.

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of HF on mortality in patients with sepsis.

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched to compare the outcomes of sepsis patients with HF. A random effect model was used to summarize the mortality data, and the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated as effect indicators.

Among 18001 records retrieved in the literature search, 35712 patients from 10 separate studies were included. The results showed that sepsis patients with HF were associated with increased total mortality (OR = 1.80, 95%CI: 1.34-2.43; I² = 92.1%), with high heterogeneity between studies. Significant subgroup differences according to age, geographical location, and HF patient sample were observed. HF did not increase the 1-year mortality of patients (OR = 1.11, 95%CI: 0.75-1.62; I² = 93.2%), and the mortality of patients with isolated right ventricular dysfunction (OR=2.32, 95%CI: 1.29-4.14; I² = 91.5%) increased significantly.

In patients with sepsis, HF is often associated with adverse outcomes and mortality. Our results call for more high-quality research and strategies to improve outcomes for sepsis patients with HF.