Observational Epidemiological Study To Assess Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Heart Transplant Recipients in Spain (CTC Study): Preliminary Results at 18 Months Post-Transplantation

Abstract

Purpose To date, there are no specific scales to assess the cardiovascular risk (CVR) of heart transplant (HT) recipients. The Cardiac Transplantation & Cardiovascular risk factors (CTC) study is the first to assess the CVR of HT recipients, and the impact of the different cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) on the morbidity and mortality of this population. Methods and Materials A 3-year, prospective, multicenter, epidemiological study of adult recipients of a first HT in Spain. Both general population- and HT-specific- CVRF were recorded at month 6 (baseline CVR), 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 post-HT. The main endpoint was to assess the impact of CVRF on the incidence of chronic allograft vasculopathy (CAV), mortality and re-transplantation at 3 years. A HT-specific CVR scale will be developed based on the data analysis. In this preliminary report we present the epidemiological data at 18 months post-HT. Results 404 patients were included (males: 76.3%; mean age: 54.0±10.7 years). The most common reasons for HT were ischemic cardiopathy (41.2%) and dilated cardiomyopathy (39.9%). At 18 months post-HT the accumulated incidence of CAV, mortality and re-transplantation were 11%, 12,9% and 0%, respectively. The most common CVRF were hypertension (72.8%), hyperhomocysteinemia (63.6%) and left ventricular hypertrophy (48.5%). A significant increase in the body mass index (BMI) and in the systolic/diastolic blood pressure was observed between months 6 and 18 post-HT (from 25.6±4.0 kg/m² to 26.8±4.2 kg/m² [p Conclusions After HT a progressive increase in the BMI, blood pressure and estimated CVR are seen. The 3-year data from the CTC study may define the impact of the different CVRF on the outcomes of HT in Spain.