Clonal hematopoiesis has prognostic value in dilated cardiomyopathy independent of age and clone size

Abstract Background Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) gives rise to mutated leukocyte clones, that may induce cardiovascular inflammation, and thereby impact the disease course in cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and ischemic heart failure. The term clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is used when the variant allele frequency (VAF; a marker for clone size) in blood is ≥2%. The impact of CH clones in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains largely undetermined. Moreover, the impact of small clone sizes (VAF