LAUSR

Background Heart failure with recovered ejection fraction (HFrecEF) is a newly emerged subset of patients who previously had reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), but had improvement or recovery by natural history or in response to therapy. The aim of this study was to determine survival of patients with HFrecEF and compare it to those with HFrEF. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted including patients admitted to the University of Florida Jacksonville medical center with a new diagnosis of HFrEF from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015. Patients 18 years or older with a verified diagnosis of HFrEF, at least 2 echocardiograms within the study period on guideline directed medical therapy were identified from medical records. The diagnosis of HFrecEF was defined as the most current LVEF ≥40% and a previously documented LVEF Results Of the 1521 patients included in the study 181 (11.2%) had EF recovery to >40%. The mean follow up was 4.9 years, the maximal follow up 5.6 years. The mean age of patients with HFrecEF was 61.5 years, 57.4% were male, 54.1% were Caucasian ( Table 1 ). Overall, 384 (25.2%) patients died in the study cohort. The probability of age and sex adjusted all-cause death was significantly higher in the HFrEF group compared to the HFrecEF group (log-rank Chi-square = 9.8, 26.5% vs16%, p=0.0018). The Hazard Ratio for mortality over the study period was 0.60 (95% CI 0.41-0.87, p=0.008) for HFrEF vs. HFrecEF ( Figure 1 ). Conclusions HFrecEF in an urban teaching hospital is a heterogeneous group of patients with different demographics and comorbidities compared to HFrEF. Although patients with HFrecEF have lower all-cause mortality rate than HFrEF further investigations to determine the optimal medical management of this subgroup of patients are necessary.