Time trends in characteristics, clinical course, and outcomes of 13,791 patients with acute heart failure.

OBJECTIVES

To analyse time trends in patient characteristics, clinical course, hospitalisation rate, and outcomes in acute heart failure along a 10-year period (2007-2016).

METHODS

The EAHFE registry has prospectively collected 13,971 consecutive AHF patients diagnosed in 41 Spanish emergency departments (EDs) at five different time points (2007/2009/2011/2014/2016). Eighty patient-related variables and outcomes were described and statistically significant changes along time were evaluated. We also compared our data with large ED- and hospital-based registries.

RESULTS

Compared to other large registries, our patients were older [80 (10) years], more frequently women (55.5%), and had a higher prevalence of hypertension (83.5%) and a lower prevalence of ischaemic cardiomyopathy (29.4%). De novo AHF was observed in 39.6%. 63.6% showed some degree of functional dependence and 56.1% had preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). 56.8% of the patients arrived at the ED by ambulance, 4.5% arrived hypotensive, and 21.3% hypertensive. Direct discharge from the ED home was seen in 24.9%, and internal medicine (32.5%) and cardiology (15.8%) were the main hospital destinations. Triggers for decompensation were identified in 75.4%, the most being frequent infection (35.2%) and rapid atrial fibrillation (14.7%). The AHF phenotypes were: warm/wet 82.0%, warm/dry 6.2%, cold/wet 11.1%, and cold/dry 0.7%. The length of hospitalisation was 9.3 (8.6) days, and in-hospital, 30-day, and 1-year all-cause mortality were 7.8, 10.2 and 30.3%, respectively; and 30-day re-hospitalisation and ED revisit due to AHF were 16.9 and 24.8%, respectively. Thirty-nine of the eighty characteristics studied showed significant changes over time, while all outcomes remained unchanged along the 10-year period.

CONCLUSIONS

The EAHFE Registry is the first European ED-based registry describing the characteristics, clinical course, and outcomes of a cohort resembling the universe of patients with AHF. Significant changes were observed over time in some aspects of AHF characteristics and management, but not in outcomes.