Expanded Definition of Worsening Heart Failure: Impact on Clinical Outcomes and Quality-of-Life Assessment

Worsening heart failure (WHF) events, whether or not leading to hospitalization, may reflect therapeutic benefits of an intervention.

The study aimed to assess the associations between an expanded definition of WHF and treatment effect, mortality and change in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Overall Summary Score.

In the randomized REDUCE LAP-HF II (A Study to Evaluate the Corvia Medical, Inc IASD System II to Reduce Elevated Left Atrial Pressure in Patients With Heart Failure) trial of atrial shunt vs sham control procedure, WHF was classified as level 1 (hospitalization requiring intravenous diuretics), level 2 (urgent outpatient encounters with diuretic intensification), or level 3 (nonurgent encounters with augmentation of oral diuretics). Patients were classified as responders/nonresponders based on peak exercise pulmonary vascular resistance or presence of a pacemaker device, as previously published.

By 24 months, 161 (25.9%) of 621 patients had at least 1 WHF event, including 108 (17.4%) with any level 1 WHF event, 22 (3.5%) with a level 2 WHF event, and 31 (5.0%) with only level 3 WHF events. In the overall population, there were no differences for shunt vs control device by any definition. In a recurrent events analysis in the responder group, a numerical difference in favor of the atrial shunt was present for level 1 WHF alone but increased and became statistically significant with inclusion of level 2 and level 3 events. Level 1 WHF, but not level 2 or 3, was associated with higher mortality (HR: 3.54 [95% CI: 1.83-6.87]; P = 0.0002). Inclusion of level 2 and 3 events strengthened the association of WHF with less favorable changes in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Overall Summary Score.

An expanded definition of WHF more clearly identified the treatment effect of an atrial shunt in a responder group and the negative association of WHF with change in quality of life. (A Study to Evaluate the Corvia Medical, Inc IASD System II to Reduce Elevated Left Atrial Pressure in Patients With Heart Failure [REDUCE LAP-HF TRIAL II]; NCT03088033).