An obesity paradox in acute heart failure: analysis of body mass index and inhospital mortality for 108,927 patients in the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry.

Background: Prior studies on chronic systolic heart failure (HF) have demonstrated that body mass index (BMI) is inversely associated with mortality, the so-called obesity paradox. The aim of this study was to determine whether BMI influences the mortality risk in acute decompensated HF, a subject not previously studied.

Methods: The Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry was analyzed for acute HF hospitalizations in 263 hospitals in the United States from October 2001 through December 2004.

Retransplantation in 7,290 primary transplant patients: a 10-year multi-institutional study.

Background: Cardiac retransplantation is a controversial procedure due to the disparity between donor heart demand and supply.

Methods: Of 7,290 patients undergoing primary cardiac transplantation between January 1990 and December 1999 at 42 institutions contributing to the Cardiac Transplant Research Database (CTRD), 106 patients later underwent a second and 1 patient a third cardiac transplant procedure.

Results: The actuarial freedom from retransplantation was 99.