Efficacy of Sacubitril-Valsartan on Survival and Cardiac Remodeling in Hypotensive Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate whether hypotensive patients diagnosed with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) might benefit from angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitors (ARNis) in real-world practice because patients with baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) of less than 100 mm Hg have been excluded from landmark trials. Patients and MethodsIn this multicenter study conducted between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2021, a total of 7562 symptomatic patients with HFrEF were enrolled and grouped by SBP (hypotension was defined as an SBP of less than 100 mm Hg) and ARNi use as follows: group 1, hypotensive/non-ARNi users (n=484); group 2, hypotensive/ARNi users (n=308); group 3, nonhypotensive/non-ARNi users (n=4560); and group 4, nonhypotensive/ARNi users (n=2210). Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to balance baseline characteristics for survival analysis. ResultsDiverse baseline characteristics and lower rates of medication use were found among non-ARNi users compared with ARNi users. Hypotensive/ARNi users had lower ARNi initiation doses than nonhypotensive/ARNi users. We observed significantly lower mortality, composite heart failure hospitalization, and CV death for hypotensive/ARNi and the other 2 nonhypotensive groups (groups 3 and 4) during a median follow-up of 3.43 years (all P<.05), with a similar effect on reverse remodeling for the hypotensive/ARNi group compared with the hypotensive/non-ARNi group. The event-free survival benefits of ARNi vs renin-angiotensin system inhibitors were consistent with the lower boundary of SBP for clinical benefits found until 88 mm Hg (spline curves) after inverse probability of treatment weighting. ConclusionPatients with HFrEF and hypotension may still benefit from ARNi treatment. Patients with hypotensive HFrEF should not be routinely excluded from ARNi use in a real-world setting.