Determinantes prognósticos de pacientes portadores de insuficiência cardíaca crônica sistólica secundária à hipertensão arterial sistêmica

Abstract

Background: Chronic heart failure is a progressive syndrome. It is associated with a significantly reduced life expectancy due to a poor prognosis in a long term and it is currently seen as a major health problem worldwide. Despite technological advances in therapy, it still shows high mortality and high rate of re-hospitalization. Objective: To establish the predictors of mortality in patients with chronic systolic heart failure secondary to systemic arterial hypertension. Methods: All patients diagnosed with chronic systolic heart failure secondary to systemic arterial hypertension were considered in this study. They were routinely followed at the Cardiomyopathy outpatient Clinic at the Hospital de Base, São José do Rio Preto, from January 2000 to April 2008. One hundred and thirty patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected. The Cox proportional hazards model analysis was used to establish the independent variables to predict mortality. The variables that could predict mortality in patients with chronic heart failure secondary to systemic arterial hypertension were used in univariate and multivariate model. The survival curve of Kaplan - Meier was used to estimate survival over time. Results: The mean follow-up was 39 ± 26 months. Thirty-one (24%) patients died, 5 (4%) underwent heart transplantation and 94 (72%) were alive at study end. The probability of survival at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months was 96%, 93%, 84%, 79% and 76%, respectively. Age (Hazard Ratio= 1.05, 95% Confidence Interval 95% : 1.01 to 1.08, p value=0.01), left ventricular diastolic dimension (Hazard Ratio=1.08; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.02 to 1.09; p value=0.003), and B-Blocker therapy (Hazard Ratio=0.41; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.19 to 0.86; p value=0.02) were found to be independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion: The results showed that age, left ventricular diastolic diameter and underuse of beta-blockers were independent predictors of all-cause mortality in patients with chronic systolic heart failure secondary to systemic arterial hypertension in the contemporary era.