Heart failure medications prescribed at discharge for patients with left ventricular assist devices

Abstract Background Real-world use of traditional heart failure (HF) medications for patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) is not well known. Methods We conducted a retrospective, observational analysis of 1,887 advanced HF patients with and without LVADs from 32 LVAD hospitals participating in the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure registry from January 2009 to March 2015. We examined HF medication prescription at discharge, temporal trends, and predictors of prescription among patients with an in-hospital (n=258) or prior (n=171) LVAD implant, and those with advanced HF but no LVAD, as defined by a left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 25% and in-hospital receipt of intravenous inotropes or vasopressin receptor antagonists (n=1458). Results For beta-blocker and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB), discharge prescriptions were 58.9% and 53.5% for new LVAD patients, 53.8% and 42.9% for prior LVAD patients, and 73.4% and 63.2% for patients without LVAD support, respectively (both p