Does nutritional intervention maintain its prognostic benefit in the long term for malnourished patients hospitalised for heart failure?

OBJECTIVE

To assess the long-term effect of nutritional intervention on malnourished, hospitalised patients with heart failure (HF).

METHODS

A total of 120 malnourished patients hospitalized for HF were randomised to undergo (or not) an individual nutritional intervention for 6 months. The primary event was the combination of all-cause death and readmission for HF. We performed an intent-to-treat analysis and assessed the effect of the intervention at 24 months.

RESULTS

The combined event occurred in 47.5% of the intervention group and in 73.8% of the control group (hazard ratio: 0.45; 95% confidence interval: 0.28-0.72; P=.001). Thirty-nine percent of the intervention group and 59% of the control group died (hazard ratio: 0.53; 95% confidence interval: 0.31-0.89; P=.017).

CONCLUSION

A nutritional intervention for malnourished patients hospitalised for HF maintains its prognostic benefit in the long-term follow-up.

Nutritional intervention in acute heart failure patients with undernutrition and normalbuminemia: A subgroup analysis of PICNIC study

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Hypoalbuminemia is common in acute heart failure (HF) patients and has been associated with increased hospital mortality and long-term mortality. Undernutrition is a factor causing hypoalbuminemia. The PICNIC study results show that a nutritional intervention in undernourished acute HF patients reduces the risks of all-cause death and of readmission for HF. We aimed to investigate whether the efficacy of a nutritional intervention is consistent among the subgroups of patients with and without hypoalbuminemia.

METHODS

In PICNIC study, a total of 120 malnourished hospitalized patients due to acute HF were randomized to conventional HF treatment or conventional HF treatment combined with an individualized nutritional intervention. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death or readmission for worsening of HF, with a maximum follow-up of 12 months. In this post-hoc sub-analysis we assessed the interaction of the effects of a nutritional intervention among patients with and without hypoalbuminemia. Analysis was by intention to treat.

RESULTS

59 (49,2%) patients demonstrated hypoalbuminemia and 61 (50,8%) had normalbuminemia. At 12 months, the number of events for the primary endpoint in the intervention group compared with the control group was consistent among patients with hypoalbuminemia (28.6% intervention vs 61.3% control, HR 0,35, 95% CI 0,15-0,81) and those without (25.8% intervention vs 60% control, HR 0,35, 95% CI 0,15-0,79; interaction p = 0,86).

CONCLUSION

There was no evidence that the relative efficacy of a nutritional intervention in undernourished acute HF patients was different between patients with normalbuminemia and those with hypoalbuminemia.