P1386 A change in left ventricular global longitudinal strain is a prognostic indicator in congestive heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction

Purposes We examined how changes in left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) were associated with prognosis in patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) after congestive heart failure (HF) admission. Methods We studied 123 consecutive patients (age 70 ± 15 years, 55% male) who had been hospitalized due to congestive HF with preserved LVEF (> 50%). The exclusion criteria were atrial fibrillation and inadequate echo image quality for strain analyses. The patients underwent speckle-tracking echocardiography and measurement of plasma NT-ProBNP levels on the same day at the time of hospital admission as well as in the stable condition after discharge. Differences in GLS, LVEF and NT-ProBNP (delta GLS, LVEF and NT-ProBNP ; 2nd – 1st measurements) were calculated. The study end points were all-cause mortality and cardiac events. Results Mean periods of echo performance after hospitalization were 2 ±days (1st echo) and 240 ± 289 days (2nd echo), respectively. During the follow-up (974 ± 626 days), 12 patients died and 25 patients were hospitalized because of HF worsening. In multivariate analysis, delta GLS and follow-up GLS were prognostic factors, whereas baseline and follow-up LVEF, NT-ProBNP, changes in LVEF and NT-ProBNP could not predict cardiac events. Delta GLS (p = 0.002) turned out to be the best independent prognosticator. Receiver operating characteristics analysis revealed that -0.6% of delta GLS was the optimal cut-off value to predict cardiac events and mortality (sensitivity 76%, specificity 67%, AUC 0.75). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with delta GLS more than -0.6% experienced significantly less cardiac events during the follow-up period (p < 0.0001, log-rank). Conclusion A change in LV GLS after congestive HF admission was a predictor of the prognosis in patients with preserved LVEF. It would be useful to check the changes in GLS in those with preserved LVEF after discharge.