Seasonal differences in nutritional status of patients hospitalized with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

Background/Introduction

Heart failure (HF) is increasing steadily while the prognosis still stays poor despite improvements in care and availability of new therapies. The nutritional status. is important in management of HF, as an part of multidisciplinary approach. It is known that the diet depends on the availability of nutritional products and therefore also on the season. The seasonal differences of the nutritional status in HF to our knowledge has not been studied before.

Purpose

The assessment of variability in nutritional status among patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) in different seasons of the year.

Methods

We enrolled 240 consecutive patients hospitalized at the department of cardiology, due to HFrEF with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <=40%. Patients were interviewed with MNA form to assess their nutritional status. Detailed medical history was collected. Patients were divided according to the astronomical season of the year (spring summer fall winter), depending on the time of the admission to the hospital. We compared MNA scores between mentioned groups of patients using U Mann Whitney test. Due to the possible influence of HF exacerbations on nutritional status, the second analysis was done after exclusion of patients with HF decompensation.

Results

Mean age was 56.4±11.3 years, 15.8 % patients were women, mean BMI – 28.8±5.5 kg/m2, mean LVEF – 23.9±7.7%, mean MNA score – 23.0±2.9 points. MNA score was higher (the sign of better nutritional status) in patients interviewed during spring compared to those assessed in summer (p=0.0094) or fall (p=0.014). The same situation was observed after the exclusion of patients with decompensation of HF: MNA score measured in patients admitted in spring was better than those hospitalized in summer (p=0.042) or fall (p=0.0064). The difference between spring and winter lacked statistical significance (p=0.058). Mean MNA scores and more important data for every season are presented in Figure 1 and 2.

Conclusion(s)

The differences in nutrition state in stable patients with HFrEF suggest that the seasonality of the diet might result from veritable modification in nutrition associated with availability and price of fruit and vegetables or the respondents mood, unrelated to the real nutritional status, impacts the score in the MNA questionnaire. This requires further analyses.

Soluble ST2 and nutritional status in patients hospitalized with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction - pilot study

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): Student Scientific Society

Background

Chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is very often accompanied by malnutrition, which seems to be a marker for poor prognosis. With still high prevalence of HFrEF new aspects of malnourishment should be assessed in order to plan a more individualized management and to achieve better prognosis. In addition to that the multimarker approach to evaluating HFrEF is gaining importance. One of the most promising new markers seems to be the soluble receptor for interleukin-33 (IL-33) - sST2 peptide.

Purpose

The aim of the study was to find relationship between serum sST2 level and malnourishment indicators in patients with HFrEF.

Methods

33 consecutive patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology. The sST2 level was assessed using the rapid ST2 test. We assessed nutritional status with the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire and collected the chosen clinical and biochemical parameters related to nutrition. It was tested if sST2 level could predict risk of malnutrition defined as MNA score below or equal to 23.5 using ROC curve analysis. Then to further evaluate the relation between nutritional status and sST2 level appropriate correlations were tested.

Results

The studied group consisted of 9.1% women, mean age was 55.3 ± 10.0 years, left ventricular ejection fraction - 24.8 ± 8.7%, sST2 level - 49.84 ± 37.02 ng/ml. Using ROC curve analysis we found that sST2 levels can predict the risk of malnutrition with both considerable sensitivity – 0.786, specificity – 0.737 and an area under the curve (AUC) 0.726 (95%CI 0.548-0.903; p=0.013). The optimal cutoff point - 35 ng/ml was derived and according to this value patients were divided into two groups. MNA score was 22.4 ± 2.3 in group with high ST2 (>35 ng/ml) and 24.4 ± 2.4 in group with low ST2 (<35 ng/ml); the difference was statistically significant (p=0.026). Using Spearman’s Rank-Order Correlation we found that sST2 level correlated significantly with total protein level (p=0.0349, R=-0.46), albumin level (p<0.001, R=-0.80) and total cholesterol level (p=0.002, R=-0.52), while no relevant relation to BMI nor triglycerides was found.

Conclusions

The study revealed a potential value of sST2 level in predicting impaired nutritional status defined with MNA and its correlation with serum protein, albumin and total cholesterol. More research needs to be conducted in order to verify these relations and to study its usefulness.

The relationship between clinical parameters and natriuretic peptides and quality of life in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

Introduction

Heart failure (HF) patients are exposed to severe symptoms of the disease, fatal prognosis, rehospitalizations and low quality of life status. Furthermore, it was observed that more patients with HF would rather live better than longer.

Purpose

The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between clinical parameters, natriuretic peptides level and quality of life (QoL) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Methods

111 patients hospitalized due to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) were examined using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and divided into three groups of similar quantity due to their transformed score of somatic domain of QoL: first group with score <45 - worst QoL (n = 33), second group with score between 45 and 55 (n = 42), and third with score >55 - best QoL (n = 36). Then the group with highest scores, with best somatic QoL, was compared with those with lowest scores in respect of chosen clinical and biochemical parameters.

Results

Patients with the highest somatic domain score, comparing with the lowest, had significantly higher BMI (mean 29.8 ± 5.5 vs. 26.8 ± 5.7 kg/m2, p = 0.016), lower BNP level (465 vs. 967 pg/ml, median 275 vs. 690, p =0.005), higher LVEF (30.7 ± 12.0 vs. 23.9 ± 10.8%, p = 0.006), higher triglycerides level (2.02 ± 1.22 vs. 1.43 ± 0.76 mmol/l, p = 0.027) and iron level (17.8 ± 6.6 vs. 13.6 ± 5.5 µmol/l, p = 0.019) as well as transferrin saturation (28.0 ± 11.0 vs. 21.3 ± 8.9 %, p = 0.015). The percentage of patients with NYHA class I and II was higher in the group with the highest somatic domain score in comparison with the lowest (66.6% vs. 33.3% respectively, p = 0.034).

Conclusions

The somatic domain of WHOQOL-BREF in patients with HFrEF correlates with patients’ clinical state assessed with the NYHA class and BNP level. QoL status was not associated with age and gender which are depicted in the literature as the important aspects influencing QoL of the community.