PATTERNS OF SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED FOR ACUTE HEART FAILURE

Heart failure (HF) is a heterogenous and progressive syndrome associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially during hospitalization for acute exacerbations and in the early post-discharge period. The objective of this study was to describe the phenotypes of HF and the patterns of short-term outcomes in patients admitted for acute HF. This was a prospective observational study carried out at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 145 adult patients admitted for acute HF. 2D transthoracic echocardiography was performed to classify the HF phenotype and participants were followed up for 90-days from the day of admission or until death occurred. The study’s primary outcome measures were a composite of all-cause mortality (ACM), HF rehospitalization (HFR), an unscheduled hospital visit (UHV) due to worsening HF symptoms or need for outpatient intensification of diuretic dose (OIDD) while the secondary outcome measures were each of the components of the primary outcome, plus in-hospital mortality (IHM). The study outcomes were reported as frequencies with percentages. Mean age of the participants was 52.2 years +/- 14.9. Most of the participants had new-onset HF (53.1%). HF with reduced, mildly reduced and preserved ejection fraction was reported in 58.0%, 28.3%, and 13.7% of participants, respectively. The study’s outcome measures; primary, ACM, HFR, UHV, OIDD, and IHM were reported in 75(51.7%), 44(30.3%), 16(11.0%), 12(8.3%), 18(12.4%), and 31(21.4%) of the participants, respectively. Findings from this study suggest that there’s considerable risk of mortality (ACM and IHM) following/during acute HF hospitalization.