Association Between Coexisting Constipation and Heart Failure Readmission in Patients With Heart Failure - A Nationwide Database Study

Background: Constipation often coexists with heart failure (HF) and can cause increased blood pressure variability, which may increase the risk of repeated HF admissions. However, large-scale contemporary data regarding the prognostic effect of constipation in patients with HF are lacking.

Methods and results: We retrospectively identified 556,792 patients admitted for HF for the first time and discharged alive in the fiscal years 2016-2021 using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database. Constipation was defined as continued use of laxatives after discharge. We examined the association between constipation and 1-year HF readmission. The prevalence of constipation was 22.0% (n=122,670), which remained stable over the 6 years. Patients with constipation were older (82.7±10.1 vs. 79.3±12.8 years), more often female (53.5% vs. 48.0%), and received medications for HF more frequently at discharge compared with those without constipation. In the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model, constipation was significantly associated with a higher incidence of 1-year HF readmission (24.0% vs. 18.6%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.10). This result was consistent with the result from the Fine-Gray model accounting for competing risk of death (subdistribution HR 1.08; 95% CI 1.06-1.09).

Conclusions: Constipation was associated with a higher risk of HF readmission after the first episode of HF hospitalization. Given the detrimental effect of constipation, further efforts are warranted to decrease constipation-related risk in patients with HF.