Correlation between systolic blood pressure and mortality in heart failure patients with hypertension

Abstract

Background: The correlation between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mortality in hypertensive patients with different phenotypes of heart failure (HF) has not been adequately studied, and optimal blood pressure control targets remain controversial. To explore the link between SBP and prognosis in all or three ejection fraction (EF) phenotypes of HF patients with hypertension. Methods: We analyzed 1279 HF patients complicated by hypertension in a retrospective cohort. The SBP <130 mmHg group included 383 patients, and the SBP ≥130 mmHg group included 896 patients. The major end point was all-cause mortality. Results: Of the 1279 study patients, with a median age of 66.0 ± 12.0 years, 45.3% were female. The proportions of the three subtypes of heart failure complicated with hypertension (HFrEF, HEmrEF, and HFpEF) were 26.8%, 29.3%, and 43.9%, respectively. During the 1-year follow-up, 223 patients experienced all-cause death, and 133 experienced cardiovascular death. Restricted cubic splines showed that the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death increased gradually as the SBP level decreased in patients with HFrEF and HFmrEF. Furthermore, the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model revealed that SBP <130 mmHg was also associated with an increased risk of all-cause death [hazard ratio (HR) 2.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–5.20, P = 0.011] and cardiovascular death (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.01–3.63, P = 0.047) in HFrEF patients. A trend toward increased risk was observed among HFmrEF patients, but it was not statistically significant. This trend was not observed in HFpEF patients. Conclusion: In HFrEF patients, SBP <130 mmHg was associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. A trend toward increased risk was observed among HFmrEF patients, but not among HFpEF patients.