Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and With Reduced Ejection Fraction According to the Prognostic Nutritional Index: Findings From PARADIGM-HF and PARAGON-HF

Background: The importance of nutritional status is underappreciated in patients with heart failure (HF). This study aimed to describe the range of the prognostic nutrition index (PNI), and the clinical characteristics and outcomes according to PNI, in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The primary outcome was the composite of HF hospitalization or cardiovascular death.

Methods and results: Individual patient data from the PARAGON-HF (Prospective Comparison of ARNI [Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitor] with ARB [Angiotensin Receptor Blocker] Global Outcomes in HFpEF) and PARADIGM-HF (Prospective Comparison of ARNI With ACEI [Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor] to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in HF) trials were used to examine patient characteristics and outcomes according to quartiles of PNI. Cox regression was used to analyze clinical outcomes, and multivariable fractional polynomial interaction analysis to examine the effects of sacubitril-valsartan, according to PNI. Patients with lower PNI (poorer nutrition) were older, frailer, and had more comorbidities and worse HF status, with greater congestion. Patients with lower PNI had biomarker abnormalities indicating inflammation, bone marrow suppression, and increased collagen turnover, among other physiologic perturbations. Lower PNI was associated with worse outcomes; that is, the rate of the primary end point among patients in the first quartile was 11.31 (10.20-12.54) compared with 7.09 (6.17-8.14) per 100 person-years in the fourth quartile. These associations persisted after adjustment for other prognostic variables. PNI did not modify the effects of sacubitril-valsartan in HFrEF although sacubitril/valsartan seemed to have a greater benefit in patients with HFpEF with a higher PNI.

Conclusions: Nutritional status, assessed using PNI, is an independent predictor of poor outcomes in HF. Evaluation of nutritional status in clinical practice, the causes of undernutrition, and whether undernutrition should be a therapeutic target, are all worthy of further investigation in HF.