Abstract 14658: Comparative Effectiveness of Torsemide versus Furosemide in Acute Heart Failure Patients: Insights from ASCEND-HF

Abstract

Introduction: Furosemide is the most commonly used loop diuretic in heart failure (HF) patients despite potential pharmacologic and anti-fibrotic benefits with torsemide. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the comparative benefits of post-discharge use of torsemide would be superior to furosemide in a large acute HF trial. Methods: We investigated HF patients in ASCEND-HF who were discharged on either torsemide or furosemide. Given regional variation in torsemide use, we restricted analyses to the 6 countries with at least 20 patients on one of the diuretics and patients on torsemide. Using inverse probability weighting (IPW) to account for selection of diuretic, we assessed the relationship between diuretic at discharge with 30-day mortality or HF hospitalization, and 30- and 180-day mortality. Results: Of 7,141 patients in the trial, 3,282 patients were included in this analysis, of which, 88% (n=2,893) received furosemide and 12% (n=389) received torsemide. Torsemide-treated patients had lower blood pressure, and higher creatinine and BUN at baseline compared with furosemide-treated patients. On adjusted analysis, torsemide use was associated with a trend toward lower 30-day mortality or HF hospitalization (OR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.37-1.04; P=0.067). Torsemide was associated with similar 30-day mortality (OR 0.77, 95% CI: 0.28-2.09; P=0.60), and significantly reduced 180-day mortality (HR 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36-0.87; P=0.038) compared with furosemide (Figure). Conclusion: In this acute HF trial, a minority of patients received torsemide and commonly had indicators of higher risk. After risk-adjustment, torsemide was associated with lower risk of 180-day mortality. These data should be considered as hypothesis-generating and prospective, randomized comparative effectiveness trials are needed to investigate the optimal diuretic choice between torsemide vs. furosemide.