Characterizing Vericiguat Treatment in Heart Failure: A Multicenter Real-World Study in China

Background: Real-world data on the clinical benefit of vericiguat are currently limited. This multicenter, real-world study was conducted to evaluate the clinical characteristics and therapeutic effects of vericiguat in real-world settings.Methods: This study analyzed heart failure (HF) patients who initiated vericiguat treatment from September 2022 to August 2023 across nine hospitals in the Anhui Province, China. The clinical data were retrospectively collected and cases were prospectively followed to assess changes from baseline in N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) at 12 months. Baseline characteristics were compared with those in the VICTORIA trial.Results: Of the 285 patients enrolled, the mean age was 64.8 +/- 12.9 years. Of these, 22.8% were female, and 94.7% were classified as New York Heart Association class III-IV. Additionally, 66.4% had a reduced ejection fraction with a median NT-proBNP level of 2915 pg/mL. Vericiguat therapy was initiated during hospitalization in 223 patients (78.2%), with 105 (37.1%) receiving quadruple anti-HF therapy. Only 44.9% met the VICTORIA trial inclusion criteria.Conclusions: In this multicenter, real-world study of vericiguat in Anhui Province, only 44.9% of vericiguat users met the inclusion criteria for the VICTORIA trial. This suggests that vericiguat is being applied more broadly by physicians to treat HF in real clinical settings.