Prognostic Impact of Previous Hospitalization in Acute Heart Failure Patients

Background: The natural course of heart failure (HF) is typically associated with repeated hospitalizations, and subsequently, patient prognosis deteriorates. However, the precise relationship between repeated admissions for HF and long-term prognosis remains unknown. Methods and Results: We analyzed data from 1,730 consecutive acute HF patients registered in the West Tokyo Heart Failure (WET-HF) registry between June 2005 and April 2014 (median age, 76 years). Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the number of previous HF admissions at the time of the index admission (0, n=876 [55.4%]; 1, n=425 [26.9%]; >= 2, n=279 [17.7%] previous admissions). A history of multiple previous admissions was an independent predictor for all-cause death and HF readmission in reference to a history of a single previous admission (hazard ratio (HR), 1.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-2.13; HR, 1.90 95% CI, 1.47-2.44, respectively) or no previous admissions (HR, 1.37, 95% CI, 1.01-1.85; HR, 2.83, 95% CI, 2.19-3.65, respectively). On the other hand, a history of a single previous admission was an independent predictor for HF readmission in reference to a history of no previous admissions (HR, 1.51, 95% CI, 1.18-1.92), but not for all-cause death (HR, 0.89, 95% CI, 0.66-1.20). Conclusions: Based on a contemporary multicenter HF registry, a history of multiple previous HF admissions was revealed as an independent, strong risk factor of adverse events following the index admission. The number of hospitalizations could be a simple and important surrogate indicating subsequent adverse events in patients with HF.