Predictors of all-cause mortality among patients with implantable cardiac defibrillators for nonischemic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD’s) are recommended in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) of nonischemic etiology. Determining patients who are at high risk despite ICD implantation is of clinical value. Methods Between 2009-2019 patients who were implanted ICD due to nonischemic HFrEF were included to the present analysis. Baseline characteristics, laboratory parameters and echocardiographic findings were obtained from the electronic database. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Appropriate and inappropriate device therapies were also extracted from the database and was confirmed with patients’ reports. Predictors for long term all-cause mortality was determined by using Cox regression analysis. Results Overall, 1199 patients were screened and 238 were eligible for the analysis. ICD’s were implanted for primary and secondary prevention in 68 (28.6%) and 170 (71.4%) of patients respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that increased pro-BNP [Hazard ratio (HR): 1.001, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.000 – 1.001, p = 0.024] and reduced left ventricle ejection fraction (HR: 0.950, 95% CI: 0.907 – 0.994, p: 0.026) predicted all-cause mortality during long term follow up. Pro-BNP > 425 pg/ml has sensitivity and specificity of 74% for each in predicting all-cause mortality. Conclusion Among patients who were implanted ICD for HFrEF of nonischemic etiology, higher pro-BNP prior to the implantation and lower LVEF predicted all-cause mortality during long term follow up. Table 1Univariate analysisP valueHR (95% CI)Multivariate analysisP valueHR (95% CI)Diabetes mellitus0.0062.587 (1.315 - 5.090)Diabetes mellitus0.1441.837 (0.812 - 4.153)Atrial fibrillation0.0023.080 (1.531 - 6.195)Atrial fibrillation0.1811.738 (0.774 - 3.903)NYHA > 20.0172.394 (1.168 - 4.908)NYHA > 20.2531.642 (0.701 - 3.847)RDW0.0441.191 (1.005 - 1.412)RDW0.6461.046 (0.862 - 1.270)Lymphocytes0.0220.616 (0.408- 0.932)Lymphocytes0.1650.683 (0.399 - 1.170)Blood urea nitrogen0.0381.015 (1.001- 1.030)Blood urea nitrogen0.1521.015 (0.995 - 1.036)Pro-BNP