Patients with heart failure and concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease participating in the Heart Failure Pilot Survey (ESC-HF Pilot) - Polish population

Introduction: There is an increasing interest in comorbidities in heart failure patients. Data about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the Polish population of heart failure (HF) patients are scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment differences and outcome according to COPD occurrence in the Polish population of patients participating in the ESC-HF Pilot Survey Registry.

Material and methods: We analyzed the data of 891 patients with HF recruited in 2009-2011 in Poland: 648 (72.7%) hospitalized patients and 243 (27.3%) patients included as outpatients.

Results: The COPD was documented in 110 (12.3%) patients with HF in the analyzed population. Patients with - compared to those without COPD were older, more often smokers, had higher NYHA class, and higher prevalence of hypertension. Ejection fraction (EF) was higher in hospitalized patients with COPD compared to patients without COPD (40.5 ±14.6% vs. 37.2 ±13.7%, p < 0.04), without a significant difference in the outpatient group. There was a significant difference in β-blocker use between patients with and without COPD (81.8% vs. 94.7%, p < 0.0001). Most patients received them below target doses. At the end of the 12-month follow-up, there was no significant difference in mortality between COPD and no-COPD patients (10.9% vs. 11.1%, p = 0.66).

Conclusions: The findings from the Polish part of the ESC-HF registry indicate that COPD in patients with HF is associated with older age, smoker status, hypertension and higher NYHA class. The use of β-blockers was significantly lower in patients with than without COPD. There were no significant differences in mortality between groups.