Dataset Information

Managing older patients with heart failure calls for a holistic approach.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

This study aims to assess the presence of geriatric domain impairments in an older heart failure (HF) outpatient population and to relate these domain impairments with 1 year mortality risk in comparison with a geriatric outpatient population without HF.

Methods and results

Data were used from two different prospective cohort studies: 241 outpatients with HF (mean age 78 ± 9 years, 48% female) and 686 geriatric outpatients (mean age 80 ± 7 years, 55% female). We similarly assessed the following geriatric domains in both cohorts: physical function, nutritional status, polypharmacy, cognitive function, and activities in daily living. Cox proportional hazards analyses were used to relate individual domains to 1 year mortality risk in both populations and to compare 1 year mortality risk between both populations. Of the patients with HF, 34% had impairments in ≥3 domains, compared with 38% in geriatric patients. One-year mortality rates were 13% and 8%, respectively, in the HF and geriatric populations; age-adjusted and sex-adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) for patients with HF compared with geriatric patients was 1.7 (1.3-2.6). The individual geriatric domains were similarly associated with 1 year mortality risk in both populations. Compared with zero to two impaired domains, age-adjusted and sex-adjusted mortality risk (hazard ratio, 95% confidence interval) for three, four, or five impaired domains ranged from 1.6 (0.6-4.2) to 6.5 (2.1-20.1) in the HF population and from 1.4 (0.7-2.9) to 7.9 (2.9-21.3) in the geriatric population.

Conclusions

In parallel with geriatric patients, patients with HF often have multiple geriatric domain impairments that adversely affect their prognosis. This similarity together with the findings that patients with HF have a higher 1 year mortality risk than a general geriatric population supports the integration of a multi-domain geriatric assessment in outpatient HF care.

SUBMITTER: Wiersinga JHI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8120364 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundOlder patients who are hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure have high rates of physical frailty, poor quality of life, delayed recovery, and frequent rehospitalizations. Interventions to address physical frailty in this population are not well established.MethodsWe conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial to evaluate a transitional, tailored, progressive rehabilitation intervention that included four physical-function domains (strength, balance, mobility, and endurance). The intervention was initiated during, or early after, hospitalization for heart failure and was continued after discharge for 36 outpatient sessions. The primary outcome was the score on the Short Physical Performance Battery (total scores range from 0 to 12, with lower scores indicating more severe physical dysfunction) at 3 months. The secondary outcome was the 6-month rate of rehospitalization for any cause.ResultsA total of 349 patients underwent randomization; 175 were assigned to the rehabilitation intervention and 174 to usual care (control). At baseline, patients in each group had markedly impaired physical function, and 97% were frail or prefrail; the mean number of coexisting conditions was five in each group. Patient retention in the intervention group was 82%, and adherence to the intervention sessions was 67%. After adjustment for baseline Short Physical Performance Battery score and other baseline characteristics, the least-squares mean (±SE) score on the Short Physical Performance Battery at 3 months was 8.3±0.2 in the intervention group and 6.9±0.2 in the control group (mean between-group difference, 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.9 to 2.0; P<0.001). At 6 months, the rates of rehospitalization for any cause were 1.18 in the intervention group and 1.28 in the control group (rate ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.19). There were 21 deaths (15 from cardiovascular causes) in the intervention group and 16 deaths (8 from cardiovascular causes) in the control group. The rates of death from any cause were 0.13 and 0.10, respectively (rate ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.61 to 2.27).ConclusionsIn a diverse population of older patients who were hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure, an early, transitional, tailored, progressive rehabilitation intervention that included multiple physical-function domains resulted in greater improvement in physical function than usual care. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others; REHAB-HF ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02196038.).

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