Heart failure mortality in Southeast Asian patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Background: Prognostic indicators and mortality in multiethnic Southeast Asian patients with heart failure (HF) may be different.

Methods And Results: The study population comprised 225 inpatients with HF with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less who were discharged alive. Five years later, survival and causes of death were determined. Proportionally, more Malay and Indian patients were admitted compared with Chinese patients (P < .001). There were 55.6% in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV. Ischemic heart disease was the most common cause (85.8%). At 5 years, 152 patients (67.5%) had died. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were prescribed to 79.1% of patients on discharge. Cardiovascular causes accounted for 69.7% of deaths. Predictors of mortality include female gender (P = .046), age 70 years or more (P = .017), renal impairment (P = .008), NYHA class III or IV (P = .03), and non-use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (P = .005). On multivariate analysis, increasing age (P = .001) and renal impairment (P = .019) were independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Cardiovascular death was more likely with NYHA class III or IV (P = .004) and renal impairment (P = .012).

Conclusion: Mortality is unusually high in this group of patients despite treatment. Greater use of evidence-based therapies in HF-management programs may arrest this trend.