Trends in Pulmonary Hypertension Over a Period of 30 Years: Experience From a Single Referral Centre

Introduction and objectives: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by increased pulmonary vascular resistance, right ventricular dysfunction and death. Despite scientific advances, is still associated with high morbidity and mortality. The aim is to describe the clinical approach and determine the prognostic factors of patients with PAH treated in a national reference center over 30 years.

Methods: Three hundred and seventy nine consecutive patients with PAH (January 1984 to December 2014) were studied. Were divided into 3 periods of time: before 2004, 2004-2009 and 2010-2014. Prognostic factors (multivariate analysis) were analyzed for clinical deterioration.

Results: Median age was 44 years (68.6% women), functional class III-IV: 72%. An increase was observed in more complex etiologies in the last period of time: Pulmonary venooclusive disease and portopulmonary hypertension. Upfront combination therapy significantly increased (5% before 2004 vs 27% after 2010; P < .05). Multivariate analysis showed prognostic significance in age, sex, etiology and combined clinical variables as they are independent predictors of clinical deterioration (P < .05). Survival free from death or transplantation for the 1st, 3rd and 5th year was 92.2%, 80.6% and 68.5% respectively. The median survival was 9 years (95% confidence interval, 7.532-11.959) CONCLUSIONS: The PAH is a heterogeneous and complex disease, the median survival free from death or transplantation in our series is 9 years after diagnosis. The structure of a multidisciplinary unit PAH must adapt quickly to changes that occur over time incorporating new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.