Association between beta-blocker use and mortality/morbidity in older patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction A propensity score-matched analysis from the Swedish Heart Failure Registry
Stolfo, Davide; Uijl, Alicia; Benson, Lina; Schrage, Benedikt; Fudim, Marat; Asselbergs, Folkert W; Koudstaal, Stefan; Sinagra, Gianfranco; Dahlström, Ulf; Rosano, Giuseppe; Savarese, Gianluigi
(2020) European Journal of Heart Failure, volume 22, issue 1, pp. 103 - 112
(Article)
Abstract
Background: Beta-blockers reduce mortality and morbidity in heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, patients older than 80 years are poorly represented in randomized controlled trials. We assessed the association between beta-blocker use and outcomes in HFrEF patients aged ≥80 years. Methods and results: We included patients with
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an ejection fraction <40% and aged ≥80 years from the Swedish HF Registry. The association between beta-blocker use, all-cause mortality and cardiovascular (CV) mortality/HF hospitalization was assessed by Cox proportional hazard models in a 1:1 propensity score-matched cohort. To assess consistency, the same analyses were performed in a positive control cohort with age <80 years. A negative control outcome analysis was run using hospitalization for cancer as endpoint. Of 6562 patients aged ≥80 years, 5640 (86%) received beta-blockers. In the matched cohort including 1732 patients, beta-blocker use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.79–0.99]. Reduction in CV mortality/HF hospitalization was not significant (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.85–1.05) due to the lack of association with HF hospitalization, whereas CV death was significantly reduced. After adjustment rather than matching for the propensity score in the overall cohort, beta-blocker use was associated with reduced risk of all outcomes. In patients aged <80 years, use of beta-blockers was associated with reduced risk of all-cause death (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.68–0.92) and of the composite outcome (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.77–0.99). Conclusions: In HFrEF patients ≥80 years of age, use of beta-blockers was high and was associated with improved all-cause and CV survival.
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Keywords: Beta-blocker, Elderly, Heart failure, Registry, SwedeHF, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Journal Article
ISSN: 1388-9842
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Note: Funding Information: This work has received support from the EU/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking BigData@Heart grant no. 116 074. Folkert W. Asselbergs is supported by UCL Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Conflict of interest: D.S. reports personal fees from Novartis, Lusofarmaco, GSK and Vifor Pharma, none related to the present work. B.S. reports funding by the German Research Foundation, none related to the present work. M.F. is supported by AHA grant 17MCPRP33460225 and the NHLBI T32 postdoctoral training grant 5T32HL007101–42; consulting for Coridea, AxonTherapies and Galvani. U.D. reports research grants from AstraZeneza; honoraria/consultancies from AstraZeneca, Novartis and Amgen, none related to the present work. G.S. reports research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck Sharp & Dohme; honoraria from Vifor, Servier, Roche, AstraZeneca, none related to the present work. The other authors have nothing to disclose. Funding Information: This work has received support from the EU/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking BigData@Heart grant no. 116 074. Folkert W. Asselbergs is supported by UCL Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Conflict of interest: D.S. reports personal fees from Novartis, Lusofarmaco, GSK and Vifor Pharma, none related to the present work. B.S. reports funding by the German Research Foundation, none related to the present work. M.F. is supported by AHA grant 17MCPRP33460225 and the NHLBI T32 postdoctoral training grant 5T32HL007101?42; consulting for Coridea, AxonTherapies and Galvani. U.D. reports research grants from AstraZeneza; honoraria/consultancies from AstraZeneca, Novartis and Amgen, none related to the present work. G.S. reports research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck Sharp & Dohme; honoraria from Vifor, Servier, Roche, AstraZeneca, none related to the present work. The other authors have nothing to disclose. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure © 2019 European Society of Cardiology
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