Even relatively minor impairments in systolic function are associated with a heightened risk of heart failure and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) later in life, according to a new analysis published in JAMA Cardiology. If only using left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to predict a patient’s risk of heart failure, healthcare providers may be missing out on important information.
The study’s authors aimed to see if tracking a patient’s longitudinal strain (LS) and circumferential strain (CS), as opposed to only their LVEF, could help improve the prediction of heart failure later in life.
To test this hypothesis, the team explored data from more than 5,000 adults without heart failure who participated in the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. The cohort had a mean patient age of 75 years old. All participants underwent echocardiography from 2011 to 2013, giving providers the opportunity to monitor their LS, CS and LVEF. There was a median follow-up period of 5.5 years.
Overall, the echocardiographic data helped the team determine that lower LVEF, LS and CS values are associated with heart failure and HFrEF.
“Impairments of LVEF, LS and CS did not completely overlap, and each provided additive risk of incident HF independent of the others,” wrote lead author Anne Marie Reimer Jensen, BS, of the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues.
The team confirmed its findings using data from participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study.
“These findings suggest that current recommended assessments of left ventricular function substantially underestimate the prevalence of impaired systolic function in late life,” wrote lead author Anne Marie Reimer Jensen, BS, of the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues. “The additive prognostic value of these measures suggests an important role for these relatively subtle impairments of systolic function (detected based on LVEF or strain) in identifying those at risk for HF in late life.”
Click here to read the full study in JAMA Cardiology.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.