Transthoracic echocardiography parameters as predictors of 30-day readmission after admission for new-onset heart failure

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background In an aging population. heart failure (HF) is one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare systems in the coming years. Hospital readmissions after discharge continue to be one of the main problems for both patients and health systems as they represent costs and work overload for staff. The aim of this study is to re-visit the prognostic value of transthoracic echo parameters (TTE) in readmissions after a new-onset HF episode. Methods Consecutive patients admitted with a first episode of HF were prospectively included into a registry. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography based on current guidelines for chamber quantification within 24hrs after admission. Conventional systolic and diastolic function parameters were obtained. In addition. longitudinal strain and ventricular-arterial coupling of both ventricles were evaluated. Results 218 consecutive patients were included. Clinical and imaging characteristics are described in Table 1. 32 patients (14.7%) had readmission within 30-days. Mean age of the cohort was 73.4±13.4 years; mean LV ejection fraction (LVEF) was 42.3±14.2% and mean LV global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) was −9.2±3.4%. Patients with 30-day readmissions had lower LVEF (37.8±3.1 vs 42.7±1.5%. p = 0.255) and significantly lower LV-GLS (−7.4±2.4 vs −9.5±3.4%. p = 0.042). Regarding diastolic function, patients with 30-day readmissions had a slightly higher E/e’ ratio (15.1±10.3 vs 14.3±7.2, p = 0.747) and a significantly larger left atrium volume index (57.2ml/m2 vs 45.5ml/m2). Right ventricular-arterial coupling (RVAc) was significantly lower in patients with readmissions (0.43±0.11 vs 0.69±0.9, p = 0.031). As for clinicals variables; only obesity was significantly associated with 30-day readmissions (Table 1). A model to predict 30-days readmissions that included LVEF, LV-GLS, LAVI and RVAc had an area under the ROC curve of 0.831. CI (0.72–0.95). Figure 1. Conclusions Several clinical scores have been proposed. however. cardiac function parameters are barely taken into account in most scores. Simple and feasible TTE parameters can accurately predict readmissions after a first episode of heart failure and might be included in clinical scores for better risk stratification of patients with new-onset HF.