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Obesity is an ongoing pandemic and is associated with the development of heart failure (HF), and especially HF with preserved ejection fraction. The definition of obesity is currently based on anthropometric measurements but neglects the location and molecular properties of excess fat. Important depots associated with HF development are subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral adipose tissue, both located in the abdominal region, and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) surrounding the myocardium. However, mechanisms linking these different adipose tissue depots to HF development are incompletely understood. EAT in particular is of great interest because of its close proximity to the heart. In this review, we therefore focus on the characteristics of different adipose tissue depots and their response to obesity. In addition, we evaluate how different mechanisms associated with EAT expansion potentially contribute to HF and in particular HF with preserved ejection fraction development., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr van der Meer is supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC CoG 101045236, DISSECT-HF); and has received consultancy fees and/or grants from Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Vifor Pharma, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Pharma Nord, BridgeBio, Novo Nordisk, Daiichi-Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Ionis. Dr Meems has received consultancy/speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Boehringer Ingelheim. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Obesity is associated with adverse cardiac remodeling and is a key driver for the development and progression of heart failure (HF). Once-weekly semaglutide (2.4 mg) has been shown to improve HF-related symptoms and physical limitations, body weight, and exercise function in patients with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but the effects of semaglutide on cardiac structure and function in this population remain unknown., Objectives: In this echocardiography substudy of the STEP-HFpEF Program, we evaluated treatment effects of once-weekly semaglutide (2.4 mg) vs placebo on cardiac structure and function., Methods: Echocardiography at randomization and 52 weeks was performed in 491 of 1,145 participants (43%) in the STEP-HFpEF Program (pooled STEP-HFpEF [Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with Obesity and HFpEF] and STEP-HFpEF DM [Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with Obesity, HFpEF, and Type 2 Diabetes] trials). The prespecified primary outcome was change in left atrial (LA) volume, with changes in other echocardiography parameters evaluated as secondary outcomes. Treatment effects of semaglutide vs placebo were assessed using analysis of covariance stratified by trial and body mass index, with adjustment for baseline parameter values., Results: Overall, baseline clinical and echocardiographic characteristics were balanced among those receiving semaglutide (n = 253) and placebo (n = 238). Between baseline and 52 weeks, semaglutide attenuated progression of LA remodeling (estimated mean difference [EMD] in LA volume, -6.13 mL; 95% CI: -9.85 to -2.41 mL; P = 0.0013) and right ventricular (RV) enlargement (EMD in RV end-diastolic area: -1.99 cm 2 ; 95% CI: -3.60 to -0.38 cm 2 ; P = 0.016; EMD in RV end-systolic area: -1.41 cm 2 ; 95% CI: -2.42 to -0.40] cm 2 ; P = 0.0064) compared with placebo. Semaglutide additionally improved E-wave velocity (EMD: -5.63 cm/s; 95% CI: -9.42 to -1.84 cm/s; P = 0.0037), E/A (early/late mitral inflow velocity) ratio (EMD: -0.14; 95% CI: -0.24 to -0.04; P = 0.0075), and E/e' (early mitral inflow velocity/early diastolic mitral annular velocity) average (EMD: -0.79; 95% CI: -1.60 to 0.01; P = 0.05). These associations were not modified by diabetes or atrial fibrillation status. Semaglutide did not significantly affect left ventricular dimensions, mass, or systolic function. Greater weight loss with semaglutide was associated with greater reduction in LA volume (P interaction  = 0.033) but not with changes in E-wave velocity, E/e' average, or RV end-diastolic area., Conclusions: In the STEP-HFpEF Program echocardiography substudy, semaglutide appeared to improve adverse cardiac remodeling compared with placebo, further suggesting that treatment with semaglutide may be disease modifying among patients with obesity-related HFpEF. (Research Study to Investigate How Well Semaglutide Works in People Living With Heart Failure and Obesity [STEP-HFpEF]; NCT04788511; Research Study to Look at How Well Semaglutide Works in People Living With Heart Failure, Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes [STEP-HFpEF DM]; NCT04916470)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpEF DM trials were sponsored by Novo Nordisk A/S. Dr Solomon has received research grants from Alexion, Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Bellerophon, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boston Scientific, Cytokinetics, Edgewise, Eidos, Gossamer, GSK, Ionis, Eli Lilly, MyoKardia, National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Respicardia, Sanofi Pasteur, Theracos, and US2.AI; and has consulted for Abbott, Action, Akros, Alexion, Alnylam, Amgen, Arena, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardior, Cardurion, Corvia, Cytokinetics, Daiichi-Sankyo, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Merck, Myokardia, Novartis, Roche, Theracos, Quantum Genomics, Janssen, Cardiac Dimensions, Tenaya, Sanofi-Pasteur, Dinaqor, Tremeau, CellProThera, Moderna, American Regent, Sarepta, Lexicon, Anacardio, Akros, and Valo. Dr Ostrominski has received grant support from the NIH (5T32HL007604-39). Dr Wang has received grant support from American College of Cardiology/Association of BlackCardiologists Merck Research Fellowship; and her institution has received fees for core lab services from Cytokinetics and Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr Shah has received support from research grants from the NIH (U54 HL160273, R01 HL140731, and R01 HL149423); has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Corvia, and Pfizer; and has received consulting fees from Abbott, Alleviant, Amgen, Aria CV, AstraZeneca, Axon Therapies, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, BridgeBio, Bristol Myers Squibb, Corvia, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eidos, Imara, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia, Ionis, Lilly, Merck, NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Prothena, Regeneron, Rivus, Sardocor, Shifamed, Tenax, Tenaya, and Ultromics. Dr Borlaug has received research support from the NIH and the US Department of Defense; has received research grant funding from AstraZeneca, Axon, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Mesoblast, Novo Nordisk, Rivus, and Tenax Therapeutics; has served as a consultant for Actelion, Amgen, Aria, Axon Therapies, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Imbria, Janssen, Merck, NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, NXT Medical, and VADovations; and is named inventor (US patent no. 10,307,179) for the tools and approach for a minimally invasive pericardial modification procedure to treat heart failure. Dr Butler has served as a consultant to 3live, Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardior, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Edwards, Element Science, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Innolife, Inventiva, Janssen, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Occlutech, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, PharmaIN, Roche, Sequana, SQ Innovation, and Vifor. Dr Davies has served as a consultant, Advisory Board member, and speaker for Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; has served as an Advisory Board member and speaker for AstraZeneca; has served as an Advisory Board member for Medtronic, Pfizer, and ShouTi Pharma; has served as a speaker for Amgen, Novartis, and Sanofi; and has received grants as an investigator in support of investigator-initiated trials from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. Dr Kitzman has received support from the Kermit Glenn Phillips II Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and NIH (grants U01AG076928, R01AG078153, R01AG045551, R01AG18915, P30AG021332, 14 U24AG059624, and U01HL160272); has received honoraria as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corvia Medical, Ketyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; has received grant funding from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; and has stock ownership in Gilead Sciences. Dr Verma has received speaker and/or consulting fees from Abbott, Amarin, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, and TIMI. Drs Abildstrøm, Nygaard Einfeldt, and Rasmussen are employees and shareholders of Novo Nordisk A/S. Dr Abhayaratna has received honoraria or speaker fees as an Advisory Board member or speaker for Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Ahmed has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Occlutech, Pharmacosmos, and Vifor. Dr Chopra has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Lupin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Mankind, Pfizer, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, and Torrent. Dr Ito has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Mochida, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Merkely has received speaker fees and/or research payments from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Medtronic, and Novartis; and has received institutional grants from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Novartis, Terumo, and Vifor. Dr Núñez has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Pfizer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Rovi, and Vifor. Dr Senni has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Vifor. Dr van der Meer has received institutional payments for consultancy fees and/or grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, BridgeBio, Ionis, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharma Nord, and Vifor. Dr Wolf has received honoraria and/or consulting or speaker fees for serving as an Advisory Board member, consultant, or speaker from Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and UCB. Dr Petrie has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Roche, and SQ Innovations; and has served on committees or consulted for AbbVie, Akero, AnaCardio, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biosensors, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiorentis, Corvia, Eli Lilly, Horizon Therapeutics, LIB Therapeutics, Moderna, New Amsterdam, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, SQ Innovations, Takeda, Teikoku, and Vifor. Dr Kosiborod has served as a consultant or on an Advisory Board for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corcept Therapeutics, Cytokinetics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Pfizer, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, and Youngene Therapeutics; has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer; holds stocks in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics; has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk; and has received other research support from AstraZeneca and Vifor. Dr Ben-Gal has reported that he has no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hyperkalemia (HK) is associated with suboptimal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitor and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) use in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF)., Objectives: This study sought to assess characteristics and RAS inhibitor/MRA use in patients receiving patiromer during the DIAMOND (Patiromer for the Management of Hyperkalemia in Subjects Receiving RAASi Medications for the Treatment of Heart Failure) run-in phase., Methods: Patients with HFrEF and HK or past HK entered a run-in phase of ≤12 weeks with patiromer-facilitated RAS inhibitor/MRA optimization to achieve ≥50% recommended RAS inhibitor dose, 50 mg/d MRA, and normokalemia. Patients achieving these criteria (randomized group) were compared with the run-in failure group (patients not meeting the randomization criteria)., Results: Of 1,038 patients completing the run-in, 878 (84.6%) were randomized and 160 (15.4%) were run-in failures. Overall, 422 (40.7%) had HK entering run-in with a similar frequency in the randomized and run-in failure groups (40.3% vs 42.5%; P = 0.605). From start to the end of run-in, in the randomized group, an increase was observed in target RAS inhibitor and MRA use in patients with HK (RAS inhibitor: 76.8% to 98.6%; MRA: 35.9% to 98.6%) and past HK (RAS inhibitor: 60.5% to 98.1%; MRA: 15.6% to 98.7%). Despite not meeting the randomization criteria, an increase after run-in was observed in the run-in failure group in target RAS inhibitor (52.5% to 70.6%) and MRA use (15.0% to 48.1%). This increase was observed in patients with HK (RAS inhibitor: 51.5% to 64.7%; MRA: 19.1% to 39.7%) and past HK (RAS inhibitor: 53.3% to 75.0%; MRA: 12.0% to 54.3%)., Conclusions: In patients with HFrEF and HK or past HK receiving suboptimal RAS inhibitor/MRA therapy, RAS inhibitor/MRA optimization increased during patiromer-facilitated run-in., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Study funding was provided by Vifor (International) AG. Dr Pitt has received consulting fees, payment or honoraria, support for attending meetings and/or travel, and stock or stock option from Vifor. Dr Anker has recevied grants from Abbott Vascular and Vifor; has received ad hoc consultancy/advisory board participation from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bioventrix, Brahms, Cordio, CVRx, Edwards, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Reparion, Sanofi, and Vectorious; has performed trial/registry steering committee work or consulting for Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiac Dimensions, Cardior, Impulse Dynamics, Occlutech, Servier, V-Wave, and Vifor Int; and has received fees for advisory board work from Abbott Vascular. Dr Lund has received grants or contracts from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Novartis, and Vifor Pharma; has received consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lexicon, MedScope, Merck, Pharmacosmos, Myokardia, Sanofi, Servier, and Vifor Pharma; has received payment or honoraria from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Medscope, Novartis, and Radcliffe; and has been a board member/fellow of ESC Heart Failure Association (HFA), ESC, and Swedish Society of Cardiology, HF Working Group; and has stock or stock options in AnaCardio. Dr Coats has received consulting fees from Actimed, Cardiac Dimensions, Corvia, CVRx, Enopace, ESN Cleer, Faraday, Impulse Dynamics, and Respicardia; has received payment or honoraria from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Edwards, Eli Lilly, Menarini, Novartis, Servier, Vifor, and Viatris; and has participated on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board from Impulse Dynamics. Dr Filippatos has been a committee member in trials for the European Commission; has received payment or honoraria from Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim; has participated on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board from Bayer; has a leadership or fiduciary role from European Academy, Heart Failure Association, and JACC Heart Failure; and has received lecture fees, advisory or committee membership in trials from Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardior, Impulse Dynamics, Medtronic, Novartis, Servier, and Vifor. Dr Rossignol has been a DIAMOND Steering Committee member and has received honoraria from Vifor; has received personal fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CinCor, Idorsia, KBP, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Servier, and Vifor; has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Vifor; is cofounder of CardioRenal; has participated on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board from Bayer, Idorsia, and Sequana medical; and has stock in Cardiorenal and stock options in G3P. Dr Weir has served on the DIAMOND Steering Committee and has received personal fees from CSL Vifor, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson, and Care DX. Dr Kosiborod has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer; has served as a consultant/advisory board member for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Pfizer, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, and Youngene Therapeutics; has received research support from AstraZeneca; has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk; has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novo Nordisk, and Vifor Pharma; and has stock options in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics. Dr Metra has received honoraria for participation on a DIAMOND trial meeting. Dr Böhm has received research support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, SFB-TTR 219, S-01); has received honoraria for speaking from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Novartis, Servier, and Vifor; and has particiapted in advisory boards for Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Novartis, Pfizer, ReCor, Servier, and Vifor. Dr Ezekowitz has received research support for trial leadership or grants from American Regent, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Cytokinetics, Merck & Co, Novo Nordisk, and Otsuka; and has received honoraria for consultancy from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Otsuka. Dr Bayes-Genis has lectured and/or participated in boards for Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Novartis, Roche Diagnostics, and Vifor. Dr Mentz has received honoraria from Vifor; and has received research support and honoraria from AstraZeneca. Dr Ponikowski has received grants or contracts, consulting fees, and payment or honoraria from Abbott Vascular, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Berlin Chemie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cibiem, BMS, Impulse Dynamics, Merck, Renal Guard Solution, Novartis, Servier, and Vifor. Dr Senni has been a consultant for Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Vifor Pharma, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Bioventrix, Servier, Novo Nordisk, Cardurion, and AnaCardio. Dr Brugts has received an independent research grant from Abbott to the Institute; and has received honoraria for advisory boards or speaker fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Vifor (5-year period). Drs Perrin, Waechter, and Budden have been paid employees and have stock/stock options in CSL Vifor. Dr Butler has received personal consulting fees from Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardior, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Edwards, Element Science, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronics, Merck, Occlutech, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Roche, Sequana, SQ Innovation, 3live, and Vifor; and has received payment from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim-Lilly, Janssen, and Novartis. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Digoxin is the oldest drug in cardiovascular (CV) medicine, and one trial conducted >25 years ago showed a reduction in heart failure (HF) hospitalizations but no effect on mortality. However, later studies suggested that the dose of digoxin used in that trial (and other studies) may have been too high. The DECISION (Digoxin Evaluation in Chronic heart failure: Investigational Study In Outpatients in the Netherlands) trial will examine the efficacy and safety of low-dose digoxin in HF patients with reduced or mildly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) with a background of contemporary HF treatment., Methods: The DECISION trial is a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled event-driven outcome trial which will investigate the efficacy and safety of low-dose digoxin in patients with chronic HF and LVEF <50%. Both patients with sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation will be enrolled and will be randomized (1:1) to low-dose digoxin or matching placebo. To maintain a target serum digoxin concentration of 0.5-0.9 ng/ml, dose adjustments are made throughout follow-up based on serum digoxin measurements with dummy values for the placebo group. The primary endpoint is a composite of CV mortality and total HF hospitalizations or total urgent hospital visits for worsening HF, and all endpoints are adjudicated blindly by a Clinical Event Committee. The estimated sample size was 982 patients who will be followed for a median of 3 years, and in December 2023 enrolment was completed after 1002 patients., Conclusions: The DECISION trial will provide important evidence regarding the effect of (low-dose) digoxin on CV mortality and total HF hospitalizations and urgent hospital visits when added to contemporary HF treatment of patients with reduced or mildly reduced LVEF., Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03783429., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Multimorbidity frequently occurs in patients with acute heart failure (AHF). The co-occurrence of comorbidities often follows specific patterns., Objectives: This study investigated multimorbidity subtypes and their associations with clinical outcomes., Methods: From the prospective RELAX-AHF-2 (Relaxin for the Treatment of Acute Heart Failure-2) trial, 6,545 patients (26% with HF with preserved ejection fraction, defined as LVEF ≥50%) were classified into multimorbidity groups using latent class analysis. The association between subgroups and clinical outcomes was examined. Validation of these findings was conducted in the RELAX-AHF trial, which comprised 1,161 patients., Results: Five distinct multimorbidity groups emerged: 1) diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) (often male, high prevalence of CKD and diabetes mellitus); 2) ischemic (ischemic HF); 3) elderly/atrial fibrillation (AF) (oldest, high prevalence of AF); 4) metabolic (obese, hypertensive, more often HF with preserved ejection fraction); and 5) young (fewest comorbidities). After adjusting for confounders, patients in the diabetes and CKD (HR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.50-2.20), elderly/AF (HR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.20-1.70), and metabolic (HR: 1.40; 95% CI: 1.20-1.80) groups had higher rates of the composite outcome than patients in the young group, primarily driven by differences in rehospitalization. Treatment allocation (placebo or serelaxin) modified these associations (P interaction  <0.001). Serelaxin-treated patients in the young group were associated with a lower risk for all-cause mortality (HR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.40-0.90). Similarly, patients from the RELAX-AHF trial clustered in 5 multimorbidity groups. The clinical characteristics and associations with outcomes could also be validated., Conclusions: Comorbidities naturally clustered into 5 mutually exclusive groups in RELAX-AHF-2, showing variations in clinical outcomes. These data emphasize that the specific combination of comorbidities can influence adverse outcomes and treatment responses in patients with AHF., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This study was funded by the PROMINENT project (funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 754425). Dr Tromp is supported by the National University of Singapore Start-up grant, the tier 1 grant from the ministry of education, and the CS-IRG New Investigator Grant from the National Medical Research Council; has received consulting or speaker fees from Daiichi Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche Diagnostics, and Us2.ai; and owns patent US-10702247-B2 unrelated to the present work. Drs Cotter and Davison are employees of Momentum Research, Inc, which has received grants from Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Celyad, Cirius Therapeutics Inc, Corteria Pharmaceuticals, Roche Diagnostics Inc, Sanofi, Windtree Therapeutics Inc, and XyloCor Therapeutics. Dr Felker has received research grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Heart Association, Amgen, Bayer, BMS, Merck, Cytokinetics, and CSL-Behring; has acted as a consultant to Novartis, Amgen, BMS, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Cardionomic, Boehringer Ingelheim, American Regent, Abbott, AstraZeneca, Reprieve, Myovant, Sequana, Windtree Therapeutics, and Whiteswell; and has served on clinical endpoint committees/data safety monitoring boards for Amgen, Merck, Medtronic, EBR Systems, V-Wave, LivaNova, Siemens, and Rocket Pharma. Dr Gimpelewicz is an employee of Novartis. Dr Greenberg is a consultant for or on the advisory board of AstraZeneca, Bayer, Ionis, Merck, Mesoblast, and Tenaya; and has been on the Data Safety Monitoring Board of ACI, Axon, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Cytokinetics, Boehringer Ingelheim, EBR Systems, Faraday, Inventiva, Impulse Dynamics, Ionis, Salubris, Vifor, Viking, and Windtree. Dr Lam is supported by a Clinician Scientist Award from the National Medical Research Council of Singapore; has received research support from Bayer and Roche Diagnostics; has served as consultant or on the Advisory Board/Steering Committee/Executive Committee for Actelion, Alleviant Medical, Allysta Pharma, Amgen, AnaCardio AB, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Cytokinetics, Darma Inc, EchoNous Inc, Eli Lilly, Impulse Dynamics, Ionis Pharmaceutical, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Medscape/WebMD Global LLC, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, ProSciento Inc, Radcliffe Group Ltd, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, and Us2.ai; and serves as co-founder and nonexecutive director of Us2.ai. Dr Voors has received research support and/or has been a consultant for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Merck, MyoKardia, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics. Dr Metra received personal fees of minimal amounts in the last 3 years from Actelion, Amgen, LivaNova, and Vifor pharma as a member of Executive or Data Monitoring Committees of sponsored clinical trials; and from AstraZeneca, Abbott Vascular, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Edwards Therapeutics for participation on advisory boards and/or speeches at sponsored meetings. Dr Teerlink has received research support and/or has been a consultant for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Servier, and Windtree Therapeutics. Dr van der Meer received grant support and/or consultancy fees from Novartis, Pharma Nord, Pfizer, Ionis, Astra Zeneca, Vifor Pharma, Pharmacosmos, BridgeBio, and Novo Nordisk. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The advent of immunological therapies has revolutionized the treatment of solid and haematological cancers over the last decade. Licensed therapies which activate the immune system to target cancer cells can be broadly divided into two classes. The first class are antibodies that inhibit immune checkpoint signalling, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The second class are cell-based immune therapies including chimeric antigen receptor T lymphocyte (CAR-T) cell therapies, natural killer (NK) cell therapies, and tumour infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies. The clinical efficacy of all these treatments generally outweighs the risks, but there is a high rate of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which are often unpredictable in timing with clinical sequalae ranging from mild (e.g. rash) to severe or even fatal (e.g. myocarditis, cytokine release syndrome) and reversible to permanent (e.g. endocrinopathies).The mechanisms underpinning irAE pathology vary across different irAE complications and syndromes, reflecting the broad clinical phenotypes observed and the variability of different individual immune responses, and are poorly understood overall. Immune-related cardiovascular toxicities have emerged, and our understanding has evolved from focussing initially on rare but fatal ICI-related myocarditis with cardiogenic shock to more common complications including less severe ICI-related myocarditis, pericarditis, arrhythmias, including conduction system disease and heart block, non-inflammatory heart failure, takotsubo syndrome and coronary artery disease. In this scientific statement on the cardiovascular toxicities of immune therapies for cancer, we summarize the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of ICI, CAR-T, NK, and TIL therapies. We also highlight gaps in the literature and where future research should focus., (© 2024 European Society of Cardiology.)

This statement focuses on the fact that women with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) have a substantial mortality and morbidity rate. Less than 50% of patients have full recovery of their cardiac function within 6 months of diagnosis. Also, patients with recovered cardiac function often suffer from comorbidities, such as hypertension or arrhythmias, which require long-term treatment. This has major implications which extend beyond the life of the patient, as it may also substantially impact her family. Women with a new diagnosis of PPCM should be involved in the decision-making processes regarding therapies, e.g. the recommendation to abstain from breastfeeding, or the use of cardiac implantable electronic devices. Women living with PPCM face the uncertainty of not knowing for some time whether their cardiac function will recover to allow them a near-to-normal life expectancy. This not only impacts their ability to work, which may have financial implications, but may also affect mental health and quality of life for the extended family. Women living with PPCM must be informed that a future pregnancy always carries a substantial risk and, in case of poor cardiac recovery, is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Patients with PPCM are best managed by an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional approach including e.g. a cardiologist, a gynaecologist, nurses, a psychologist, and social workers. The scope of this document encompasses contemporary challenges and approaches for the management of women diagnosed with PPCM., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Aims: Despite clear guideline recommendations for initiating four drug classes in all patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and the availability of rapid titration schemes, information on real-world implementation lags behind. Closely following the 2021 ESC HF guidelines and 2023 focused update, the TITRATE-HF study started to prospectively investigate the use, sequencing, and titration of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in HF patients, including the identification of implementation barriers., Methods and Results: TITRATE-HF is an ongoing long-term HF registry conducted in the Netherlands. Overall, 4288 patients from 48 hospitals were included. Among these patients, 1732 presented with de novo, 2240 with chronic, and 316 with worsening HF. The median age was 71 years (interquartile range [IQR] 63-78), 29% were female, and median ejection fraction was 35% (IQR 25-40). In total, 44% of chronic and worsening HFrEF patients were prescribed quadruple therapy. However, only 1% of HFrEF patients achieved target dose for all drug classes. In addition, quadruple therapy was more often prescribed to patients treated in a dedicated HF outpatient clinic as compared to a general cardiology outpatient clinic. In each GDMT drug class, 19% to 36% of non-use in HFrEF patients was related to side-effects, intolerances, or contraindications. In the de novo HF cohort, 49% of patients already used one or more GDMT drug classes for other indications than HF., Conclusion: This first analysis of the TITRATE-HF study reports relatively high use of GDMT in a contemporary HF cohort, while still showing room for improvement regarding quadruple therapy. Importantly, the use and dose of GDMT were suboptimal, with the reasons often remaining unclear. This underscores the urgency for further optimization of GDMT and implementation strategies within HF management., (© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Empagliflozin reduces the risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalizations but not all-cause mortality when started within 14 days of acute myocardial infarction (AMI)., Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the association of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), congestion, or both, with outcomes and the impact of empagliflozin in reducing HF risk post-AMI., Methods: In the EMPACT-MI (Trial to Evaluate the Effect of Empagliflozin on Hospitalization for Heart Failure and Mortality in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction) trial, patients were randomized within 14 days of an AMI complicated by either newly reduced LVEF<45%, congestion, or both, to empagliflozin (10 mg daily) or placebo and were followed up for a median of 17.9 months., Results: Among 6,522 patients, the mean baseline LVEF was 41 ± 9%; 2,648 patients (40.6%) presented with LVEF <45% alone, 1,483 (22.7%) presented with congestion alone, and 2,181 (33.4%) presented with both. Among patients in the placebo arm of the trial, multivariable adjusted risk for each 10-point reduction in LVEF included all-cause death or HF hospitalization (HR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.31-1.69; P < 0.0001), first HF hospitalization (HR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.37-1.96; P < 0.0001), and total HF hospitalizations (rate ratio [RR]: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.51-2.36; P < 0.0001). The presence of congestion was also associated with a significantly higher risk for each of these outcomes (HR: 1.52, 1.94, and RR: 2.03, respectively). Empagliflozin reduced the risk for first (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.60-0.98) and total (RR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.50-0.89) HF hospitalizations, irrespective of LVEF or congestion, or both. The safety profile of empagliflozin was consistent across baseline LVEF and irrespective of congestion status., Conclusions: In patients with AMI, the severity of left ventricular dysfunction and the presence of congestion was associated with worse outcomes. Empagliflozin reduced first and total HF hospitalizations across the range of LVEF with and without congestion. (Trial to Evaluate the Effect of Empagliflozin on Hospitalization for Heart Failure and Mortality in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction [EMPACT-MI]; NCT04509674)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Funding support was provided by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company. Dr Udell has served on the advisory boards of Boehringer Ingelheim, Novavax, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; has received speaker honoraria from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly; and has received research funding to his institution from Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis. Dr Petrie has received research funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, SQ Innovations, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Pharmacosmos; and has served as a consultant and on trial committees for Akero, Applied Therapeutics, Amgen, AnaCardio, Biosensors, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Bayer, Horizon Therapeutics, Takeda, Cardiorentis, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, Eli Lilly, Vifor, New Amsterdam, Moderna, Teikoku, LIB Therapeutics, and 3R Lifesciences. Dr Jones has received research grants from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Novartis, PCORI, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr Mattheus is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Seide is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Amir has served as a national principal investigator and as a steering committee member for the study; has participated in paid lectures and advisory board meetings and has clinical trials with Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Bahit has received modest honoraria from MSD, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Anthos Therapeutics. Dr Bauersachs has received honoraria for lectures or consulting from Novartis, Vifor, Bayer, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Cardior, CVRx, BMS, Amgen, Corvia, Norgine, Edwards Lifesciences, and Roche, unrelated to this work; and has received research support for the department from Zoll, CVRx, Abiomed, Norgine, and Roche, unrelated to this work. Dr Bayes-Genis has lectured and/or participated in advisory boards for Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Medtronic, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and Vifor. Dr Goodman has received research grant support (steering committee or data and safety monitoring committee) and/or speaker or consulting honoraria (advisory boards) from Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, CYTE Ltd, Daiichi-Sankyo/American Regent, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, JAMP Pharma, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/C, Pendopharm/Pharmascience, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Servier, Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, and Valeo Pharma; and has received salary support or honoraria from the Canadian Heart Failure Society, Canadian Heart Research Centre, and MD Primer, Canadian VIGOUR Centre, Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital, New York University Clinical Coordinating Centre, PERFUSE Research Institute, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre Clinical Trials and Translation Unit, and the TIMI Study Group (Brigham Health). Dr Goto has served on the advisory boards of Antos Therapeutic and Janssen; and has received honoraria from the American Heart Association (Associate Editor); and has served on the grant evaluation committee for the Nakatani Foundation and the Kaketsuken Foundation. Dr Gasior is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Jamal is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Januzzi has served as a trustee of the American College of Cardiology; has served as a board member of Imbria Pharmaceuticals; has served as director at Jana Care; has received research support from Abbott, Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, HeartFlow, Innolife, Medtronic, and Roche; has received consulting income from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beckman, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Prevencio, Quidel/Ortho, and Roche; and has participated in clinical endpoint committees/data safety monitoring boards for Abbott, AbbVie, Axon, Bayer, CVRx, Medtronic, Pfizer, Roche, and Takeda. Dr Lopes has received research grants or contracts from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Pfizer, and Sanofi; has received funding for educational activities or lectures from Pfizer, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Novo Nordisk; and has received funding for consulting or other services from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Martinez-Traba is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Parikh has served as a consultant for Medtronic; and has received institutional research grants from Abbott and Edwards Lifesciences. Dr Parkhomenko has received research grants and personal fees from Bayer, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squib/Pfizer, and Daiichi-Sankyo. Dr Schou has received lecture fees from Novartis, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk. Dr van der Meer has received grant support from the European Research Council (ERC CoG 101045236, DISSECT-HF) and the University Medical Centre Groningen; and Dr van der Meer’s employer, has received consultancy fees and/or grants from Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Vifor Pharma, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Pharma Nord, BridgeBio, Novo Nordisk, Daiichi-Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Ionis. Dr Vinereanu has received research grants and consultancy fees from Boehringer Ingelheim; and has received research grants from Bayer Healthcare, Novartis, and Servier. Dr Zieroth has received research grant support, served on advisory boards for, or participated in speaker engagements with AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Eli Lilly, GSK, Janssen, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Salubrisbio, Servier, and Vifor Pharma; has served on a clinical trial committee or as a national lead for studies sponsored by AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer; and has nonindustry relationships with the Canadian Medical and Surgical KT Group, CCS, CHFS, Charite, EOCI, Liv, Medscape, Ology, PACE-CME, Radcliffe, Reach MD, and the Translational Medicine Academy. Dr Brueckmann is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Sumin is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Bhatt has served on the advisory boards of Angiowave, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, High Enroll, Janssen, Level Ex, McKinsey, Medscape Cardiology, Merck, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novo Nordisk, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, and Stasys; has served on the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association New York City, Angiowave (with stock options), Bristol Myers Squibb (with stock), DRS.LINQ (with stock options), and High Enroll (with stock); has served as a consultant for Broadview Ventures, GlaxoSmithKline, Hims, SFJ, and Youngene; has served on data monitoring committees for Acesion Pharma, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute, for the PORTICO trial, funded by St Jude Medical, now Abbott), Boston Scientific (Chair, PEITHO trial), Cleveland Clinic, Contego Medical (Chair, PERFORMANCE 2), Duke Clinical Research Institute, Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (for the ENVISAGE trial, funded by Daiichi-Sankyo; for the ABILITY-DM trial, funded by Concept Medical; for ALLAY-HF, funded by Alleviant Medical), Novartis, Population Health Research Institute; and Rutgers University (for the NIH-funded MINT Trial); has received honoraria from the American College of Cardiology (Senior Associate Editor, Clinical Trials and News, ACC.org; Chair, ACC Accreditation Oversight Committee), Arnold and Porter law firm (work related to Sanofi/Bristol Myers Squibb clopidogrel litigation), Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute; RE-DUAL PCI clinical trial steering committee funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; AEGIS-II executive committee funded by CSL Behring), Belvoir Publications (Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter), Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group (clinical trial steering committees), CSL Behring (American Heart Association lecture), Cowen and Company, Duke Clinical Research Institute (clinical trial steering committees, including for the PRONOUNCE trial, funded by Ferring Pharmaceuticals), HMP Global (Editor in Chief, Journal of Invasive Cardiology), Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Guest Editor; Associate Editor), K2P (Co-Chair, interdisciplinary curriculum), Level Ex, Medtelligence/ReachMD (CME steering committees), MJH Life Sciences, Oakstone CME (Course Director, Comprehensive Review of Interventional Cardiology), Piper Sandler, Population Health Research Institute (for the COMPASS operations committee, publications committee, steering committee, and USA national co-leader, funded by Bayer), WebMD (CME steering committees), Wiley (steering committee); has served as Deputy Editor for Clinical Cardiology; has been named on a patent for sotagliflozin assigned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which assigned it to Lexicon; neither Dr Bhatt nor Brigham and Women’s Hospital receives any income from this patent); has received research funding from Abbott, Acesion Pharma, Afimmune, Aker Biomarine, Alnylam, Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beren, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardax, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Chiesi, CinCor, Cleerly, CSL Behring, Eisai, Ethicon, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Fractyl, Garmin, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, Ironwood, Ischemix, Janssen, Javelin, Lexicon, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Merck, Moderna, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Owkin, Pfizer, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Recardio, Regeneron, Reid Hoffman Foundation, Roche, Sanofi, Stasys, Synaptic, The Medicines Company, Youngene, and 89Bio; has received royalties from Elsevier (Editor, Braunwald’s Heart Disease); has served as site co-investigator for Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, CSI, Endotronix, St Jude Medical (now Abbott), Philips, SpectraWAVE, Svelte, and Vascular Solutions; has served as a trustee of the American College of Cardiology; and has conducted unfunded research for FlowCo. Dr Hernandez has served as a consultant to Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Eidos, GlaxoSmithKline, Intellia, Intercept, Myokardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Prolaio, and TikkunLev; and has received research funding from American Regent, Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Verily. Dr Butler has served as a consultant for Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AskBio, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardiocell, Cardior, CSL Bearing, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Daxor, Edwards, Element Science, Faraday, Foundry, G3P, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Ionis, Lexicon, Eli Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronics, Merck, Occlutech, Owkin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Prolaio, Regeneron, Renibus, Roche, Salamandra, Sanofi, SC Pharma, Secretome, Sequana, SQ Innovation, Tenex, Tricog, Ultromics, Vifor, and Zoll. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The emergence of personalized medicine, facilitated by the progress in -omics technologies, has initiated a new era in medical diagnostics and treatment. This review examines the potential of -omics approaches in heart failure, a condition that has not yet fully capitalized on personalized strategies compared to other medical fields like cancer therapy. Here, we argue that integrating multi-omics technology with systems medicine approaches could fundamentally transform heart failure management, moving away from the traditional paradigm of 'one size fits all'. Our review examines how omics can enhance understanding of heart failure's molecular foundations and contribute to a more comprehensive disease classification. We draw attention to the current state of medical practice that only relies on clinical evidence and a number of standard laboratory tests. At the same time, we propose a shift towards a universal approach that uses quantitative data from multi-omics to unravel complex molecular interactions. The discussion centres around the potential of the transition as a means to enhance individual risk assessment and emphasizes management within clinical settings. While the use of omics in cardiovascular research is not recent, many past studies have focused only on a single omics approach. In order to achieve a better understanding of disease mechanisms, we explore more holistic approaches using genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics. This review concludes with a call to action to adopt multi-omics in clinical trials and practice to pave the way for more personalized disease management and more effective heart failure interventions., (© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Aim: In a randomized controlled trial, we recently showed that a natriuresis-guided diuretic approach improved natriuresis and diuresis in patients with acute heart failure (HF). In this pre-specified analysis, we investigated the association between (worsening) renal function, outcomes and the effect of intensive natriuresis-guided loop diuretic therapy as compared with standard of care., Methods and Results: The Pragmatic Urinary Sodium-based algoritHm in Acute Heart Failure (PUSH-AHF) trial randomized patients to natriuresis-guided diuretic therapy or standard of care. Serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were assessed at fixed timepoints, and worsening renal function (WRF) was assessed at 72 h. The primary outcome was the interaction between randomized treatment allocation, baseline eGFR and the dual primary outcome of PUSH-AHF: total natriuresis at 24 h and time to all-cause mortality or HF rehospitalization at 180 days. In 309 patients, median baseline eGFR was 53 (35-73) ml/min/1.73 m 2 , and 58% had eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m 2 . Baseline eGFR did not significantly modify the treatment effect of natriuresis-guided diuretic therapy on natriuresis at 24 h (p for interaction = 0.730). However, baseline eGFR significantly modified the effect on all-cause mortality and HF rehospitalization (p for interaction = 0.017): the risk of this second primary outcome was lower in patients with lower eGFR who were randomized to the natriuresis-guided group. In the natriuresis-guided arm, eGFR decreased more (-11.0 vs. -6.91 ml/min/1.73 m 2 ; p = 0.002) during the first 3 days, but this effect was attenuated at discharge (-10.3 vs. -8.69 ml/min/1.73 m 2 ; p = 0.38). WRF was more frequently observed in patients randomized to natriuresis-guided treatment, but was not associated with worse clinical outcomes., Conclusions: Natriuresis-guided diuretic treatment improved diuresis and natriuresis irrespective of baseline eGFR and occurrence of WRF, was effective even in patients with low eGFR, and the observed effect on eGFR was transient and not associated with worse clinical outcomes., (© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Empagliflozin reduces the risk of heart failure (HF) events in patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk, chronic kidney disease, or prevalent HF irrespective of ejection fraction. Whereas the EMPACT-MI trial (Effect of Empagliflozin on Hospitalization for Heart Failure and Mortality in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction) showed that empagliflozin does not reduce the risk of the composite of hospitalization for HF and all-cause death, the effect of empagliflozin on first and recurrent HF events after myocardial infarction is unknown., Methods: EMPACT-MI was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, event-driven trial that randomized 6522 patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction at risk for HF on the basis of newly developed left ventricular ejection fraction of <45% or signs or symptoms of congestion to receive empagliflozin 10 mg daily or placebo within 14 days of admission. In prespecified secondary analyses, treatment groups were analyzed for HF outcomes., Results: Over a median follow-up of 17.9 months, the risk for first HF hospitalization and total HF hospitalizations was significantly lower in the empagliflozin compared with the placebo group (118 [3.6%] versus 153 [4.7%] patients with events; hazard ratio, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.60, 0.98]; P =0.031, for first HF hospitalization; 148 versus 207 events; rate ratio, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.51, 0.89]; P =0.006, for total HF hospitalizations). Subgroup analysis showed consistency of empagliflozin benefit across clinically relevant patient subgroups for first and total HF hospitalizations. The need for new use of diuretics, renin-angiotensin modulators, or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists after discharge was less in patients randomized to empagliflozin versus placebo (all P <0.05)., Conclusions: Empagliflozin reduced the risk of HF in patients with left ventricular dysfunction or congestion after acute myocardial infarction., Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04509674., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Hernandez has served as a consultant for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Eidos, GlaxoSmithKline, Intellia, Intercept, MyoKardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Prolaio, and TikkunLev; and has received research funding from American Regent, Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Verily. Dr Bhatt has served on advisory boards for ANGIOWave, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, High Enroll, Janssen, Level Ex, McKinsey, Medscape Cardiology, Merck, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novo Nordisk, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Stasys; on the board of directors for American Heart Association New York City, ANGIOWave (stock options), Bristol Myers Squibb (stock), DRS.LINQ (stock options), and High Enroll (stock); has served as a consultant for Broadview Ventures, GlaxoSmithKline, Hims, SFJ, and Youngene; has served on data monitoring committees for Acesion Pharma, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute, for the PORTICO trial, funded by St Jude Medical, now Abbott), Boston Scientific (chair, PEITHO trial), Cleveland Clinic, Contego Medical (chair, PERFORMANCE 2), Duke Clinical Research Institute, Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (for the ENVISAGE trial, funded by Daiichi Sankyo; for the ABILITY-DM trial, funded by Concept Medical; for ALLAY-HF, funded by Alleviant Medical), Novartis, Population Health Research Institute, and Rutgers University (for the NIH-funded MINT Trial); has received honoraria from American College of Cardiology (senior associate editor, Clinical Trials and News, ACC.org; chair, ACC accreditation oversight committee), Arnold and Porter law firm (work related to Sanofi/Bristol Myers Squibb clopidogrel litigation), Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute; RE-DUAL PCI clinical trial steering committee funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; AEGIS-II executive committee funded by CSL Behring), Belvoir Publications (editor-in-chief, Harvard Heart Letter), Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group (clinical trial steering committees), CSL Behring (AHA lecture), Cowen and Company, Duke Clinical Research Institute (clinical trial steering committees, including for the PRONOUNCE trial, funded by Ferring Pharmaceuticals), HMP Global (editor-in-chief, Journal of Invasive Cardiology), Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Guest editor; associate editor), K2P (co-chair, interdisciplinary curriculum), Level Ex, Medtelligence/ReachMD (CME steering committees), MJH Life Sciences, Oakstone CME (course director, Comprehensive Review of Interventional Cardiology), Piper Sandler, Population Health Research Institute (for the COMPASS operations committee, publications committee, steering committee, and USA national co-leader, funded by Bayer), WebMD (CME steering committees), and Wiley (steering committee); other: Clinical Cardiology (deputy editor); is named on a patent for sotagliflozin assigned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which was assigned to Lexicon (neither Dr Bhatt nor Brigham and Women’s Hospital receives any income from this patent); has received research funding from Abbott, Acesion Pharma, Afimmune, Aker Biomarine, Alnylam, Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beren, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardax, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Chiesi, CinCor, Cleerly, CSL Behring, Eisai, Ethicon, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Fractyl, Garmin, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, Ironwood, Ischemix, Janssen, Javelin, Lexicon, Lilly, Medtronic, Merck, Moderna, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Owkin, Pfizer, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Recardio, Regeneron, Reid Hoffman Foundation, Roche, Sanofi, Stasys, Synaptic, The Medicines Company, Youngene, and 89Bio; has received royalties from Elsevier (editor, Braunwald’s Heart Disease); has served as site coinvestigator for Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, CSI, Endotronix, St Jude Medical (now Abbott), Philips, SpectraWAVE, Svelte, and Vascular Solutions; has served as trustee for American College of Cardiology; and performed unfunded research for FlowCo. Dr Butler has served as a consultant to Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AskBio, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardiocell, Cardior, CSL Bearing, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Daxor, Edwards, Element Science, Faraday, Foundry, G3P, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Ionis, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronic, Merck, Occlutech, Owkin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Prolaio, Regeneron, Renibus, Roche, Salamandra, Sanofi, SC Pharma, Secretome, Sequana, SQ Innovation, Tenex, Tricog, Ultromics, Vifor, and Zoll. Dr Goto reports serving as Associate Editor for Circulation and receipt of a steering committee fee from the Duke Clinical Research Institute for EMPACT-MI. Dr Lopes reports research grants or contracts from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis; funding for educational activities or lectures from Pfizer, Daiichi Sankyo, and Novo Nordisk; and funding for consulting or other services from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Amir reports serving as National PI-Steering committee member for the study and participated in paid lectures and advisory board meetings and clinical trials in Dr Amir’s department at Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Beyes-Genis has lectured or participated in advisory boards for Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Medtronic, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche Diagnostics, and Vifor. Dr Bahit reports modest honorarium from MSD, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Anthos Therapeutics. Dr Bauersachs received honoraria for lectures/consulting from Novartis, Vifor, Bayer, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Cardior, CVRx, BMS, Amgen, Corvia, Norgine, Edwards, and Roche not related to this article; and research support for Dr Bauersachs’ department from Zoll, CVRx, Abiomed, Norgine, and Roche, not related to this article. Dr Schou reports lecture fees from Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Bohringer, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Steg reports research grants from Amarin and Sanofi; clinical trial participation for Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Idorsia, Janssen, Novartis, Novo-Nordisk, and Sanofi; consulting or speaking for Amarin, Amgen, and Novo-Nordisk; and serving as senior associate editor at Circulation. Dr Parikh reports serving as a consultant for Medtronic, Inc and receipt of an institutional research grant from Abbott and Edwards Lifesciences. Dr Januzzi reports participation as a trustee of the American College of Cardiology, board member of Imbria Pharmaceuticals, and director at Jana Care; has received research support from Abbott, Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, BBMS, HeartFlow Inc, Innolife, and Roche Diagnostics, and consulting income from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beckman, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Janssen, Medtronic, Novartis, Prevencio, Quidel/Ortho, Roche Diagnostics, and Vascular Dynamics; and participates in clinical end point committees or data safety monitoring boards for Abbott, AbbVie, Bayer, CVRx, Medtronic, Pfizer, Roche Diagnostics, and Takeda. Dr Goodman reports research grant support (eg, steering committee or data and safety monitoring committee) or speaker or consulting honoraria (eg, advisory boards) from Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, CYTE Ltd, Daiichi-Sankyo/American Regent, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, JAMP Pharma, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/C, Pendopharm/Pharmascience, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Servier, Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, and Valeo Pharma; and salary support or honoraria from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/University of Toronto (Polo) Chair, Canadian Heart Failure Society, Canadian Heart Research Centre and MD Primer, Canadian VIGOUR Centre, Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Centre for Clinical Research, Duke Clinical Research Institute, New York University Clinical Coordinating Centre, PERFUSE Research Institute, and TIMI Study Group (Brigham Health). Dr van der Meer reports support from the European Research Council (ERC CoG 101045236, DISSECT-HF); the UMCG, which employs Dr van der Meer, received consultancy fees or grants from Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Vifor Pharma, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Pharma Nord, BridgeBio, Novo Nordisk, Daiichi Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Ionis. Dr Petrie reports research funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, SQ Innovations, Astra Zeneca, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Pharmacosmos; and consultancy or trial committee participation from Akero, Applied Therapeutics, Amgen, AnaCardio, Biosensors, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Bayer, Horizon Therapeutics, Takeda, Cardiorentis, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, Eli Lilly, Vifor, New Amsterdam, Moderna, Teikoku, LIB Therapeutics, and 3R Lifesciences. Dr Parkhomenko reports research grants and personal fees from Bayer, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS/Pfizer, and Daiichi-Sankyo. Dr Vinereanu reports research grants and consultancy fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and research grants from Bayer Healthcare, Novartis, and Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC. Dr Zieroth reports research grant support, served on advisory boards for, or had speaker engagements with AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Eli Lilly, GSK, Janssen, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Salubrisbio, Servier, and Vifor Pharma; and serves on a clinical trial committee or as a national lead for studies sponsored by AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Novartis and Pfizer; nonindustry participation includes Canadian Medical and Surgical KT Group, CCS, CHFS, Charite, EOCI, Liv, Medscape, Ology, PACE-CME, Radcliffe, Reach MD, and Translational Medicine Academy. Dr Jones reports research grants from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Novartis, PCORI, and the National Institutes of Health. Drs Seide, Mattheus, Zwiener, Sumin, Gasior, Jamal, and Brueckmann are employees of Boehringer Ingelheim.

Background: In the STEP-HFpEF (NCT04788511) and STEP-HFpEF DM (NCT04916470) trials, the GLP-1 receptor agonist semaglutide improved symptoms, physical limitations, bodyweight, and exercise function in people with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. In this prespecified pooled analysis of the STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpEF DM trials, we aimed to provide a more definitive assessment of the effects of semaglutide across a range of outcomes and to test whether these effects were consistent across key patient subgroups., Methods: We conducted a prespecified pooled analysis of individual patient data from STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpEF DM, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials at 129 clinical research sites in 18 countries. In both trials, eligible participants were aged 18 years or older, had heart failure with a left ventricular ejection fraction of at least 45%, a BMI of at least 30 kg/m 2 , New York Heart Association class II-IV symptoms, and a Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS; a measure of heart failure-related symptoms and physical limitations) of less than 90 points. In STEP-HFpEF, people with diabetes or glycated haemoglobin A 1c concentrations of at least 6·5% were excluded, whereas for inclusion in STEP-HFpEF DM participants had to have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at least 90 days before screening and to have an HbA 1c of 10% or lower. In both trials, participants were randomly assigned to either 2·4 mg semaglutide once weekly or matched placebo for 52 weeks. The dual primary endpoints were change from baseline to week 52 in KCCQ-CSS and bodyweight in all randomly assigned participants. Confirmatory secondary endpoints included change from baseline to week 52 in 6-min walk distance, a hierarchical composite endpoint (all-cause death, heart failure events, and differences in changes in KCCQ-CSS and 6-min walk distance); and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations. Heterogeneity in treatment effects was assessed across subgroups of interest. We assessed safety in all participants who received at least one dose of study drug., Findings: Between March 19, 2021 and March 9, 2022, 529 people were randomly assigned in STEP-HFpEF, and between June 27, 2021 and Sept 2, 2022, 616 were randomly assigned in STEP-HFpEF DM. Overall, 1145 were included in our pooled analysis, 573 in the semaglutide group and 572 in the placebo group. Improvements in KCCQ-CSS and reductions in bodyweight between baseline and week 52 were significantly greater in the semaglutide group than in the placebo group (mean between-group difference for the change from baseline to week 52 in KCCQ-CSS 7·5 points [95% CI 5·3 to 9·8]; p<0·0001; mean between-group difference in bodyweight at week 52 -8·4% [-9·2 to -7·5]; p<0·0001). For the confirmatory secondary endpoints, 6-min walk distance (mean between-group difference at week 52 17·1 metres [9·2 to 25·0]) and the hierarchical composite endpoint (win ratio 1·65 [1·42 to 1·91]) were significantly improved, and CRP concentrations (treatment ratio 0·64 [0·56 to 0·72]) were significantly reduced, in the semaglutide group compared with the placebo group (p<0·0001 for all comparisons). For the dual primary endpoints, the efficacy of semaglutide was largely consistent across multiple subgroups, including those defined by age, race, sex, BMI, systolic blood pressure, baseline CRP, and left ventricular ejection fraction. 161 serious adverse events were reported in the semaglutide group compared with 301 in the placebo group., Interpretation: In this prespecified pooled analysis of the STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpEF DM trials, semaglutide was superior to placebo in improving heart failure-related symptoms and physical limitations, and reducing bodyweight in participants with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. These effects were largely consistent across patient demographic and clinical characteristics. Semaglutide was well tolerated., Funding: Novo Nordisk., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JB is a paid consultant to Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardior, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Daxor Edwards, Element Science, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronics, Merck, Occlutech, Owkin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Prolaio, Roche, Secretome, Sequana, SQ Innovation, Tenex, and Vifor. SJS has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Corvia, and Pfizer, and consulting fees from Abbott, Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Aria CV, Axon Therapies, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cyclerion, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eidos, Imara, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia, Ionis, Lilly, Merck, MyoKardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Prothena, ReCor, Regeneron, Rivus, Sardocor, Shifamed, Tenax, Tenaya, and Ultromics. MCP has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Roche, and SQ Innovations, and has served on committees or consulted for AbbVie, Akero, AnaCardio, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biosensors, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiorentis, Corvia, Eli Lilly, Horizon Therapeutics, LIB Therapeutics, Moderna, New Amsterdam, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, SQ Innovations, Takeda, Teikoku, and Vifor. BAB has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Axon, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Mesoblast, Novo Nordisk, Rivus, and Tenax Therapeutics, has served as a paid consultant for Actelion, Amgen, Aria, Axon Therapies, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Imbria, Janssen, Merck, NGM, Novo Nordisk, NXT, and VADovations, and is named inventor (US patent number 10 307 179) for the tools and approach for a minimally invasive pericardial modification procedure to treat heart failure. SZA, GKH, DVM, MNE, MLL, and SR are employees of, and shareholders in, Novo Nordisk. MJD has acted as paid consultant, advisory board member, and speaker for Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, a paid advisory board member and speaker for AstraZeneca, a paid advisory board member for Medtronic, Pfizer, and ShouTi Pharma, and a paid speaker for Amgen, Novartis, and Sanofi, and has received grants as an investigator in support of investigator-initiated trials from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi-Aventis. DWK reports receiving honoraria as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corvia Medical, Ketyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus, has received grant funding from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus, and owns stock in Gilead. SV reports speaking honoraria or consulting fees from Abbott, Amarin, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, and TIMI. WA reports honoraria or consulting fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. FZA reports honoraria or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Occlutech, Pharmacosmos, and Vifor. VC reports speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Lupin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Mankind, Pfizer, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, and Torrent. JAE reports research support for trial leadership from American Regent, Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, Cytokinetics, Merck, and Novo Nordisk, reports honoraria for consultancy from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Otsuka, and serves as an advisor to US2.ai. HI reports honoraria or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Mochida, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. ML reports honoraria or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ewopharma, Gedeon Richter, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and Servier. VM reports consulting fees from Bayer, Merck Sharp & Dohme, and Novo Nordisk and research grants from Regeneron. BM reports speaker fees or research payments from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Medtronic, and Novartis, and institutional grants from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Novartis, Terumo, and Vifor. JN reports honoraria or consulting fees from Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Pfizer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Rovi, and Vifor. EP reports honoraria from Novo Nordisk. MSc reports speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. MSe reports honoraria or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Vifor. KS received honoraria for serving as an advisory board member and consultant for Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Rivus. PvdM reports institutional payments for consultancy fees or grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, BridgeBio, Ionis, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharma Nord, and Vifor. DVL reports honoraria or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Recardio, Sanofi, Sanova, and Vaxxinity. DW reports consultancy fees from Novo Nordisk. MNK served as a paid consultant or advisory board member for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Pfizer, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor, and Youngene Therapeutics, has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer, holds stocks in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics, has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk, and has received other research support from AstraZeneca. TB-G and MF report no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Empagliflozin improves cardiovascular outcomes in patients with heart failure, patients with type 2 diabetes who are at high cardiovascular risk, and patients with chronic kidney disease. The safety and efficacy of empagliflozin in patients who have had acute myocardial infarction are unknown., Methods: In this event-driven, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, patients who had been hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction and were at risk for heart failure to receive empagliflozin at a dose of 10 mg daily or placebo in addition to standard care within 14 days after admission. The primary end point was a composite of hospitalization for heart failure or death from any cause as assessed in a time-to-first-event analysis., Results: A total of 3260 patients were assigned to receive empagliflozin and 3262 to receive placebo. During a median follow-up of 17.9 months, a first hospitalization for heart failure or death from any cause occurred in 267 patients (8.2%) in the empagliflozin group and in 298 patients (9.1%) in the placebo group, with incidence rates of 5.9 and 6.6 events, respectively, per 100 patient-years (hazard ratio, 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 1.06; P = 0.21). With respect to the individual components of the primary end point, a first hospitalization for heart failure occurred in 118 patients (3.6%) in the empagliflozin group and in 153 patients (4.7%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.98), and death from any cause occurred in 169 (5.2%) and 178 (5.5%), respectively (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.19). Adverse events were consistent with the known safety profile of empagliflozin and were similar in the two trial groups., Conclusions: Among patients at increased risk for heart failure after acute myocardial infarction, treatment with empagliflozin did not lead to a significantly lower risk of a first hospitalization for heart failure or death from any cause than placebo. (Funded by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly; EMPACT-MI ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04509674.)., (Copyright © 2024 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Background and Aims: There are no established clinical tools to predict left ventricular (LV) recovery in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Using data from women enrolled in the ESC EORP PPCM Registry, the aim was to derive a prognostic model to predict LV recovery at 6 months and develop the 'ESC EORP PPCM Recovery Score'-a tool for clinicians to estimate the probability of LV recovery., Methods: From 2012 to 2018, 752 women from 51 countries were enrolled. Eligibility included (i) a peripartum state, (ii) signs or symptoms of heart failure, (iii) LV ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 45%, and (iv) exclusion of alternative causes of heart failure. The model was derived using data from participants in the Registry and internally validated using bootstrap methods. The outcome was LV recovery (LVEF ≥50%) at six months. An integer score was created., Results: Overall, 465 women had a 6-month echocardiogram. LV recovery occurred in 216 (46.5%). The final model included baseline LVEF, baseline LV end diastolic diameter, human development index (a summary measure of a country's social and economic development), duration of symptoms, QRS duration and pre-eclampsia. The model was well-calibrated and had good discriminatory ability (C-statistic 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74-0.83). The model was internally validated (optimism-corrected C-statistic 0.78, 95% CI 0.73-0.82)., Conclusions: A model which accurately predicts LV recovery at 6 months in women with PPCM was derived. The corresponding ESC EORP PPCM Recovery Score can be easily applied in clinical practice to predict the probability of LV recovery for an individual in order to guide tailored counselling and treatment., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Obesity and type 2 diabetes are prevalent in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and are characterized by a high symptom burden. No approved therapies specifically target obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in persons with type 2 diabetes., Methods: We randomly assigned patients who had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 30 or more, and type 2 diabetes to receive once-weekly semaglutide (2.4 mg) or placebo for 52 weeks. The primary end points were the change from baseline in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire clinical summary score (KCCQ-CSS; scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating fewer symptoms and physical limitations) and the change in body weight. Confirmatory secondary end points included the change in 6-minute walk distance; a hierarchical composite end point that included death, heart failure events, and differences in the change in the KCCQ-CSS and 6-minute walk distance; and the change in the C-reactive protein (CRP) level., Results: A total of 616 participants underwent randomization. The mean change in the KCCQ-CSS was 13.7 points with semaglutide and 6.4 points with placebo (estimated difference, 7.3 points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1 to 10.4; P<0.001), and the mean percentage change in body weight was -9.8% with semaglutide and -3.4% with placebo (estimated difference, -6.4 percentage points; 95% CI, -7.6 to -5.2; P<0.001). The results for the confirmatory secondary end points favored semaglutide over placebo (estimated between-group difference in change in 6-minute walk distance, 14.3 m [95% CI, 3.7 to 24.9; P = 0.008]; win ratio for hierarchical composite end point, 1.58 [95% CI, 1.29 to 1.94; P<0.001]; and estimated treatment ratio for change in CRP level, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.80; P<0.001]). Serious adverse events were reported in 55 participants (17.7%) in the semaglutide group and 88 (28.8%) in the placebo group., Conclusions: Among patients with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and type 2 diabetes, semaglutide led to larger reductions in heart failure-related symptoms and physical limitations and greater weight loss than placebo at 1 year. (Funded by Novo Nordisk; STEP-HFpEF DM ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04916470.)., (Copyright © 2024 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Background: Low selenium concentrations are associated with worse outcomes in heart failure (HF). However, the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Therefore, we aimed to contrast serum selenium concentrations to blood biomarker and transcriptomic profiles in patients with HF., Methods: Circulating biomarkers, whole blood transcriptomics and serum selenium measurements in a cohort of 2328 patients with HF were utilized. Penalized linear regression and gene expression analysis were used to assess biomarker and transcriptomics profiles, respectively. As a proof-of-principle, potential causal effects of selenium on excreted cytokines concentrations were investigated using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)., Results: Mean selenium levels were 60.6 μg/L in Q1 and 122.0 μg/L in Q4. From 356 biomarkers and 20 clinical features, the penalized linear regression model yielded 44 variables with <5 % marginal false discovery rate as predictors of serum selenium. Biomarkers associated positively with selenium concentrations included: epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), IFN-gamma-R1, CD4, GDF15, and IL10. Biomarkers associated negatively with selenium concentrations included: PCSK9, TNFSF13, FGF21 and PAI. Additionally, 148 RNA transcripts were found differentially expressed between high and low selenium status (P adj. <0.05; log-fold-change<|0.25|). Enrichment analyses of the selected biomarkers and RNA transcripts identified similar enriched processes, including regulation processes of leukocyte differentiation and activation, as well as cytokines production. The mRNA expression of two selenoproteins (MSRB1 and GPX4) were strongly correlated with serum selenium, while GPX4, SELENOK, and SELENOS were associated with prognosis. In the in-vitro setting, PBMCs supplemented with selenium showed significantly lower abundance of several (pro-)inflammatory cytokines., Conclusion: These data suggest that immunoregulation is an important mechanism through which selenium might have beneficial roles in HF. The beneficial effects of higher serum selenium concentrations are likely because of global immunomodulatory effects on the abundance of cytokines. MSRB1 and GPX4 are potential modulators of and should be pursued in future research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The UMCG, which employs several of the authors has received research grants and/or fees from AstraZeneca, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardior Pharmaceuticals Gmbh, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Novo Nordisk, Pharma Nord, Vifor and Roche. The remaining authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with left heart failure (LHF) (PH-LHF) is one of the most common causes of PH. It directly contributes to symptoms and reduced functional capacity and negatively affects right heart function, ultimately leading to a poor prognosis. There are no specific treatments for PH-LHF, despite the high number of drugs tested so far. This scientific document addresses the main knowledge gaps in PH-LHF with emphasis on pathophysiology and clinical trials. Key identified issues include better understanding of the role of pulmonary venous versus arteriolar remodelling, multidimensional phenotyping to recognize patient subgroups positioned to respond to different therapies, and conduct of rigorous pre-clinical studies combining small and large animal models. Advancements in these areas are expected to better inform the design of clinical trials and extend treatment options beyond those effective in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Enrichment strategies, endpoint assessments, and thorough haemodynamic studies, both at rest and during exercise, are proposed to play primary roles to optimize early-stage development of candidate therapies for PH-LHF., (© 2024 European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Patients who sustain an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), including ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), remain at high risk for heart failure (HF), coronary events, and death. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors have been shown to significantly decrease the risk for cardiovascular events in both STEMI and NSTEMI patients., Objectives: The objectives were to determine whether angiotensin-receptor blockade and neprilysin inhibition with sacubitril/valsartan, compared with ramipril, has impact on reducing cardiovascular events according to the type of AMI., Methods: The PARADISE-MI (Prospective ARNI versus ACE inhibitor trial to DetermIne Superiority in reducing heart failure Events after Myocardial Infarction) trial enrolled patients with AMI complicated by left ventricular dysfunction and/or pulmonary congestion and at least 1 risk-enhancing factor. Patients were randomized to either sacubitril/valsartan or ramipril. The primary endpoint was death from cardiovascular causes or incident HF. In this prespecified analysis, we stratified patients according to AMI type., Results: Of 5,661 enrolled patients, 4,291 (75.8%) had STEMI. These patients were younger and had fewer comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors than NSTEMI patients. After adjustment for potential confounders, the risk for the primary outcome was marginally higher in NSTEMI vs STEMI patients (adjusted HR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.00-1.41), with borderline statistical significance (P = 0.05). The primary composite outcome occurred at similar rates in patients randomized to sacubitril/valsartan vs ramipril in STEMI (10% vs 12%; HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.73-1.04; P = 0.13) and NSTEMI patients (17% vs 17%; HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.75-1.25; P = 0.80; P interaction = 0.53)., Conclusions: Compared with ramipril, sacubitril/valsartan did not significantly decrease the risk for cardiovascular death and HF in patients with AMI complicated by left ventricular dysfunction, irrespective of the type of AMI. (Prospective ARNI vs ACE Inhibitor Trial to Determine Superiority in Reducing Heart Failure Events After MI; NCT02924727)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The PARADISE-MI trial was funded by Novartis. Dr Braunwald has received research grants through his institution from AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Merck, and Novartis; and has consultancies with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim/Lilly, Cardurion, and Verve. Dr Claggert has received consultancy fees from Novartis, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardurion, Corvia, and Myokardia. Dr Granger has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo, Duke Clinical Research Institute, FDA, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceutical Products, L.P., Medtronic Foundation, Novartis Pharmaceutic Company, and Pfizer; has received consulting fees from Abbvie, Abiomed, Alnylam Pharm, Bayer Corporation US, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific Corporation, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardionomic, CeleCor Therapeutics, HengRui USA, Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P., Medscape, LLC, Medtronic Inc, Merck, NIH, Novo Nordisk, Novartis Pharmaceutic Company, Pfizer, Phillips, and REATA; and owns equity in Tenac.io. Dr Kerkar has received speaker fees from Novartis, AstraZeneca, Bayer Zydus, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Emcure, Intas, Johnson and Johnson, Mankind, Pfizer, Torrent, and USV. Dr Kober has received speaker honorarium from Nova, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Boehringer. Dr Lewis has received personal fees from Amgen and Dal-Cor. Dr Maggioni has received personal fees for participation in committees of studies supported by Bayer, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and Fresenius, outside the present work. Dr Mann has received consulting fees from Cardurion, HAYA Therapeutics, Tenaya, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Mehran has received institutional research payments from Abbott, Abiomed, Alleviant Medical, AM-Pharma, Applied Therapeutics, Arena, AstraZeneca, BAIM, Bayer, Beth Israel Deaconess, Biosensors, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CardiaWave, CellAegis, CeloNova, CERC, Chiesi, Concept Medical, CSL Behring, Cytosorbents, DSI, Duke University, Element Science, Faraday, Humacyte, Idorsia, Insel Gruppe AG, Magenta, Medtronic, Novartis, OrbusNeich, Philips, RenalPro, Vivasure, and Zoll; has received personal fees from Cine-Med Research and WebMD; has received consulting fees paid to the institution from Abbott, Janssen, Medtronic, and Novartis; has equity <1% in Applied Therapeutics, Elixir Medical, STEL, and CONTROLRAD (spouse); and is on the Scientific Advisory Board for AMA, ACC (BOT Member), SCAI (Women in Innovations Committee Member), and JAMA Associate Editor; and Faculty CRF (no fee). Dr McMurray has received payments through Glasgow University from work on clinical trials, consulting, and other activities from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Cardurion, Cytokinetics, GSK, KBP Biosciences, and Novartis; has received personal consultancy fees from Alnylam Pharma, Bayer, BMS, George Clinical PTY Ltd, Ionis Pharma, Novartis, Regeneron Pharma, and River 2 Renal Corporation; has received personal lecture fees from Abbott, Alkem Metabolics, AstraZeneca, Blue Ocean Scientific Solutions Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge, Emcure Pharma. Ltd, Eris Lifesciences, European Academy of CME, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Imagica health, Intas Pharma, J.B. Chemicals & Pharma. Ltd, Lupin Pharma, Medscape/Heart.Org, ProAdWise Communications, Radcliffe Cardiology, Sun Pharma., The Corpus, Translation Research Group, and Translational Medicine Academy; and he is a director of Global Clinical Trial Partners Ltd. Dr Nunez has received personal fees from or is on the advisory boards for Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Cytokinetics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Rovi, and Vifor Pharma. Dr Pfeffer has received research grant support through his institution from Novartis; has been a consultant to Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly Alliance, Corvidia, DalCor, GlaxoSmithKline, Lexicon, NHLBI CONNECTs (Master Protocol Committee), Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Peerbridge, and Sanofi; and has equity in DalCor. Dr Rouleau has received consultant fees from Novartis, BMS, Bayer, and AstraZeneca. Dr Sim has received research grants from Actelion, Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bellerophon, Bayer, BMS, Celladon, Cytokinetics, Eidos, Gilead, GSK, Ionis, Lilly, Mesoblast, MyoKardia, NIH/NHLBI, Neurotronik, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Respicardia, Sanofi Pasteur, Theracos, and US2.AI; and has consulted for Abbott, Action, Akros, Alnylam, Amgen, Arena, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Cardior, Cardurion, Corvia, Cytokinetics, Daiichi-Sankyo, GSK, Lilly, Merck, Myokardia, Novartis, Roche, Theracos, Quantum Genomics, Cardurion, Janssen, Cardiac Dimensions, Tenaya, Sanofi-Pasteur, Dinaqor, Tremeau, CellProThera, Moderna, American Regent, Sarepta, Lexicon, Anacardio, Akros, and Puretech Health. Dr Solomon has received research grants from Actelion, Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bellerophon, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celladon, Cytokinetics, Eidos, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Ionis, Lilly, Mesoblast, MyoKardia, National Institutes of Health/NHLBI, Neurotronik, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Respicardia, Sanofi Pasteur, Theracos, and US2.AI; and has consulted for Abbott, Action, Akros, Alnylam, Amgen, Arena, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardior, Cardurion, Corvia, Cytokinetics, Daiichi-Sankyo, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Merck, Myokardia, Novartis, Roche, Theracos, Quantum Genomics, Cardurion, Janssen, Cardiac Dimensions, Tenaya, Sanofi-Pasteur, Dinaqor, Tremeau, CellPro-Thera, Moderna, American Regent, and Sarepta. Dr Steg has received research grants from Amarin, Bayer, Sanofi, and Servier; and has received speaker or consultant fees from Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, Kowa, Idorsia, Lexicon, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, PhaseBio, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, and Servier. Dr Van der Meer has received consultancy fees and/or grants, through the University Medical Center Groningen, from Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Vifor Pharma, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Pharma Nord, BridgeBio, Novo Nordisk, Daiichi-Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Ionis. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recent data suggest different causes of renal dysfunction between heart failure with reduced (HFrEF) versus preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We therefore studied a wide range of urinary markers reflecting different nephron segments in heart failure patients., Methods: In 2070, in chronic heart failure patients, we measured several established and upcoming urinary markers reflecting different nephron segments., Results: Mean age was 70 ± 12 years, 74% was male and 81% (n = 1677) had HFrEF. Mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was lower in patients with HFpEF (56 ± 23 versus 63 ± 23 ml/min/1.73 m 2 , P = 0.001). Patients with HFpEF had significantly higher values of NGAL (58.1 [24.0-124.8] versus 28.1 [14.6-66.9] μg/gCr, P < 0.001) and KIM-1 (2.28 [1.49-4.37] versus 1.79 [0.85-3.49] μg/gCr, P = 0.001). These differences were more pronounced in patients with an eGFR > 60 ml/min/1.73m 2 ., Conclusions: HFpEF patients showed more evidence of tubular damage and/or dysfunction compared with HFrEF patients, in particular when glomerular function was preserved., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Aims: Current heart failure (HF) guidelines recommend to prescribe four drug classes in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). A clear challenge exists to adequately implement guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) regarding the sequencing of drugs and timely reaching target dose. It is largely unknown how the paradigm shift from a serial and sequential approach for drug therapy to early parallel application of the four drug classes will be executed in daily clinical practice, as well as the reason clinicians may not adhere to new guidelines. We present the design and rationale for the real-world TITRATE-HF study, which aims to assess sequencing strategies for GDMT initiation, dose titration patterns (order and speed), intolerance for GDMT, barriers for implementation, and long-term outcomes in patients with de novo, chronic, and worsening HF., Methods and Results: A total of 4000 patients with HFrEF, HF with mildly reduced ejection fraction, and HF with improved ejection fraction will be enrolled in >40 Dutch centres with a follow-up of at least 3 years. Data collection will include demographics, physical examination and vital parameters, electrocardiogram, laboratory measurements, echocardiogram, medication, and quality of life. Detailed information on titration steps will be collected for the four GDMT drug classes. Information will include date, primary reason for change, and potential intolerances. The primary clinical endpoints are HF-related hospitalizations, HF-related urgent visits with a need for intravenous diuretics, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality., Conclusions: TITRATE-HF is a real-world multicentre longitudinal registry that will provide unique information on contemporary GDMT implementation, sequencing strategies (order and speed), and prognosis in de novo, worsening, and chronic HF patients., (© 2023 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Aims: Heart failure (HF) is associated with cytokine activation and inflammation. Experimental evidence suggests that plasma interleukin-17 (IL-17) is associated with myocardial fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction in HF. IL-17D, a subtype of IL-17 originates from particular tissues such as the heart. However, there is very limited data on the IL-17 cytokine family in patients with HF. Therefore, we investigated the association between circulating IL-17D levels, clinical characteristics and outcome in a large cohort of patients with heart failure., Methods and Results: Plasma IL-17D was measured in 2032 patients with HF from 11 European countries using a proximity extension assay. The primary outcome was a composite of HF hospitalization or all-cause mortality. Patients with higher plasma IL-17D concentrations were more likely to have atrial fibrillation (AF), renal dysfunction and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and had higher plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations (all p < 0.001). IL-17D was not associated with interleukin-6 (IL-6) or C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations. After adjustment for confounders in a multivariable Cox regression analysis, patients in the highest quartile of plasma IL-17D had a significantly increased risk of the composite outcome of HF hospitalization or all-cause mortality compared to patients in the lowest quartile [Hazard ratio (HR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.57]., Conclusion: In patients with HF, elevated plasma IL-17D concentrations are associated with higher plasma NT-proBNP concentrations and a higher prevalence of AF and renal dysfunction. High IL-17D concentrations are independently associated with worse outcome., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest A.A.V. has received research support or consultancy fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Merck, Myokardia, Novo Nordisk, Novartis and Roche Diagnostics. M.M. has received personal fees from Vifor Pharma, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Abbott Vascular, Bayer, Servier, Edwards Therapeutics, Actelion, LivaNova, and Windtree Thera-peutics. J.T. is supported by the National University of Singapore Start-up grant, the tier 1 grant from the ministry of education and the CS-IRG New Investigator Grant from the National Medical Research Council; has received consulting or speaker fees from Daiichi-Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche diagnostics and Us2.ai, owns patent US-10702247-B2 unrelated to the present work. P.v.d.M. is supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC CoG 101,045,236, DISSECT-HF) The UMCG, who employs PvdM received consultancy fees and/or grants from Novartis, Pharmacosmos, Vifor Pharma, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Pharma Nord, BridgeBio, Novo Nordisk and Ionis. J.C. reports grants from British Heart Foundation; personal fees from Abbott, personal fees from Amgen, grants and personal fees from Bayer, grants and personal fees from Bristol Myers Squibb, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Medtronic, personal fees from Idorsia, grants and personal fees from Pharmacosmos. grants and personal fees from Vifor, personal fees from Servier, personal fees and non-financial support from Boehringer-Ingelheim, personal fees from Astra-Zeneca, personal fees from Biopeutics, personal fees from Moderna, grants and personal fees from Viscardia, personal fees and non-financial support from NI Medical, grants from Pharma Nord. C.C.L. has received educational grants and/or consulting fees from Applied Threapeutics, Astra Zeneca, Boehringher Ingelheim. Lexison, MSD. Menarini, Moderna, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Vifor., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The immune system is intimately involved in the pathophysiology of heart failure. However, it is currently underused as a therapeutic target in the clinical setting. Moreover, the development of novel immunomodulatory therapies and their investigation for the treatment of patients with heart failure are hampered by the fact that currently used, evidence-based treatments for heart failure exert multiple immunomodulatory effects. In this Review, we discuss current knowledge on how evidence-based treatments for heart failure affect the immune system in addition to their primary mechanism of action, both to inform practising physicians about these pleiotropic actions and to create a framework for the development and application of future immunomodulatory therapies. We also delineate which subpopulations of patients with heart failure might benefit from immunomodulatory treatments. Furthermore, we summarize completed and ongoing clinical trials that assess immunomodulatory treatments in heart failure and present several therapeutic targets that could be investigated in the future. Lastly, we provide future directions to leverage the immunomodulatory potential of existing treatments and to foster the investigation of novel immunomodulatory therapeutics., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Aims: There are few prospective reports of 1-year outcomes for women with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). We report findings from the European Society of Cardiology EURObservational Research Programme PPCM Registry., Methods and Results: The registry enrolled women from 51 countries from 2012 to 2018. Eligibility included: (i) a peripartum state, (ii) signs or symptoms of heart failure, (iii) left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction ≤45%, (iv) exclusion of alternative causes of heart failure. We report mortality, thromboembolism, stroke, rehospitalization, LV recovery and remodelling at 1 year. Differences between regions were compared. One-year mortality data were available in 535 (71%) women and follow-up differed across regions. At 1 year, death from any cause occurred in 8.4% of women, with regional variation (Europe 4.9%, Africa 6.5%, Asia-Pacific 9.2%, Middle East 18.9%; p < 0.001). The frequencies of thromboembolism and stroke were 6.3% and 2.5%, respectively, and were similar across regions. A total of 14.0% of women had at least one rehospitalization and 3.5% had recurrent rehospitalizations (i.e. two or more). Overall, 66.1% of women had recovery of LV function (22% between 6 months and 1 year), with a mean LV ejection fraction increase from baseline of 21.2% (±13.6). Recovery occurred most frequently in Asia-Pacific (77.5%) and least frequently in the Middle East (32.7%). There were significant regional differences in the use of heart failure pharmacotherapies., Conclusions: Approximately 1 in 12 women with PPCM had died by 1 year and thromboembolism and stroke occurred in 6.3% and 2.5%, respectively. Around 1 in 7 women had been rehospitalized and, in 1 in 3, LV recovery had not occurred. PPCM is associated with substantial mortality and morbidity globally., (© 2023 European Society of Cardiology.)

Aim: It is unknown whether safety and clinical endpoints by use of sacubitril/valsartan (an angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor [ARNI]) are affected by mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) in high-risk myocardial infarction (MI) patients. The aim of this study was to examine whether MRA modifies safety and clinical endpoints by use of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with a MI and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and/or pulmonary congestion., Methods and Results: Patients (n = 5661) included in the PARADISE MI trial (Prospective ARNI vs. ACE Inhibitor Trial to Determine Superiority in Reducing Heart Failure Events After MI) were stratified according to MRA. Primary outcomes in this substudy were worsening heart failure or cardiovascular death. Safety was defined as symptomatic hypotension, hyperkalaemia >5.5 mmol/L, or permanent drug discontinuation. A total of 2338 patients (41%) were treated with MRA. Safety of ARNI compared to ramipril was not altered significantly by ± MRA, and both groups had similar increase in symptomatic hypotension with ARNI. In patients taking MRA, the risk of hyperkalaemia or permanent drug discontinuation was not significantly altered by ARNI (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). The effect of ARNI compared with ramipril was similar in those who were and were not taking MRA (hazard ratio [HR] MRA 0.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-1.19 and HR MRA- 0.87, 95% CI 0.71-1.05, for the primary endpoint; p = 0.51 for interaction [Clinical Endpoint Committee adjudicated]); similar findings were observed if investigator-reported endpoints were evaluated (p = 0.61 for interaction)., Conclusions: Use of a MRA did not modify safety or clinical endpoints related to initiation of ARNI compared to ramipril in the post-MI setting in patients with LVSD and/or congestion., (© 2023 European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) remains an important cause of maternal morbidity and mortality globally. The pathophysiology remains incompletely understood, and the diagnosis is often missed or delayed., Objectives: This study explored the serum proteome profile of patients with newly diagnosed PPCM, as compared with matched healthy postpartum mothers, to unravel novel protein biomarkers that would further an understanding of the pathogenesis of PPCM and improve diagnostic precision., Methods: Study investigators performed untargeted serum proteome profiling using data-independent acquisition-based label-free quantitative liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry on 84 patients with PPCM, as compared with 29 postpartum healthy controls (HCs). Significant changes in protein intensities were determined with nonpaired Student's t-tests and were further classified by using the Boruta algorithm. The proteins' diagnostic performance was evaluated by area under the curve (AUC) and validated using the 10-fold cross-validation., Results: Patients with PPCM presented with a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 33.5% ± 9.3% vs 57.0% ± 8.8% in HCs (P < 0.001). Study investigators identified 15 differentially up-regulated and 14 down-regulated proteins in patients with PPCM compared with HCs. Seven of these proteins were recognized as significant by the Boruta algorithm. The combination of adiponectin, quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1, inter-α-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain, and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide had the best diagnostic precision (AUC: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.84-0.96) to distinguish patients with PPCM from HCs., Conclusions: Salient biologic themes related to immune response proteins, inflammation, fibrosis, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and coagulation were predominant in patients with PPCM compared with HCs. These newly identified proteins warrant further evaluation to establish their role in the pathogenesis of PPCM and potential use as diagnostic markers., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Since the start of EORP, the following companies have supported the whole research program: Abbott Vascular International (2011-2021), Amgen Cardiovascular (2009-2018), AstraZeneca (2014-2021), Bayer AG (2009-2018), Boehringer Ingelheim (2009-2019), Boston Scientific (2009-2012), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer Alliance (2011-2019), Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH (2011-2020), Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH and Eli Lilly and Company Alliance (2014-2017), Edwards Lifesciences (2016-2019), Gedeon Richter Plc (2014-2016), Menarini Int Op (2009-2012), Merck Sharp & Dohme–Merck and Co (2011-2014), Novartis Pharma AG (2014-2020), ResMed (2014-2016), Sanofi (2009-2011), Servier (2009-2021), and Vifor (2019-2022). Dr Hoevelmann has received speaker honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Tromp has received support from the National University of Singapore Start-up Grant, the Tier 1 Grant from the Ministry of Education, and the CS-IRG New Investigator Grant from the National Medical Research Council; has received consulting or speaker fees from Daiichi Sankyo, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche Diagnostics, and Us2.ai; and owns patent US-10702247-B2 unrelated to the present work. Dr Sliwa has funded the proteomic analysis using her unconditional research grants; and has received support from Servier: Institut La Conference Hippocrate for funding of a statistical analysis program. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Many therapies for heart failure (HF) have shown differential impact across the spectrum of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)., Objectives: In this prespecified analysis, the authors assessed the effects of semaglutide across the baseline LVEF strata in patients with the obesity phenotype of HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in the STEP-HFpEF (Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with obesity and HFpEF) trial., Methods: STEP-HFpEF randomized 529 patients (263 semaglutide; 266 placebo). For this prespecified analysis, patients were categorized into 3 groups based on LVEF: 45% to 49% (n = 85), 50% to 59% (n = 215), and ≥60% (n = 229)., Results: At 52 weeks, semaglutide improved the dual primary endpoints of Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score (estimated treatment difference: EF [ejection fraction] 45%-49%: 5.0 points [95% CI: -2.7 to 12.8 points], EF 50%-59%: 9.8 points [95% CI: 5.0 to 14.6 points], and EF ≥60%: 7.4 points [95% CI: 2.8 to 12.0 points]; P interaction = 0.56) and body weight (EF: 45%-49%: -7.6 [95% CI: -10.7 to -4.4], EF 50%-59%: -10.6 [95% CI: -12.6 to -8.6] and EF ≥60%: -11.9 [95% CI: -13.8 to -9.9]; P interaction = 0.08), to a similar extent across LVEF categories. Likewise, LVEF did not influence the benefit of semaglutide on confirmatory secondary endpoints: 6-minute walk distance (P interaction = 0.19), hierarchal composite endpoint (P interaction = 0.43), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (P interaction = 0.26); or exploratory endpoint of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (P interaction = 0.96). Semaglutide was well-tolerated across LVEF categories., Conclusions: In patients with HFpEF and obesity, semaglutide 2.4 mg improved symptoms, physical limitations, and exercise function, and reduced inflammation and body weight to a similar extent across LVEF categories. These data support treatment with semaglutide in patients with the obesity phenotype of HFpEF regardless of LVEF. (Research Study to Investigate How Well Semaglutide Works in People Living With Heart Failure and Obesity [STEP-HFpEF]; NCT04788511)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The STEP-HFpEF trial was funded by Novo Nordisk A/S. Dr Butler is a consultant to 3live, Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardior, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Edwards, Element Science, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronic, Merck, Occlutech, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Roche, Sequana, SQ Innovation, and Vifor. Dr Borlaug has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense; has received research grant funding from AstraZeneca, Axon, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Mesoblast, Novo Nordisk, Rivus, and Tenax Therapeutics; has served as a consultant for Actelion, Amgen, Aria, Axon Therapies, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Imbria, Janssen, Merck, Novo Nordisk, NGM, NXT, and VADovations; and is a named inventor (U.S. Patent number 10,307,179) for the tools and approach for a minimally invasive pericardial modification procedure to treat heart failure. Dr Davies has acted as a consultant, advisory board member, and speaker for Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; has served as an advisory board member and speaker for AstraZeneca; has served as an advisory board member for Medtronic, Pfizer, and ShouTi Pharma; has served as a speaker for Amgen, Novartis, and Sanofi; and has received grants in support of investigator and investigator-initiated trials from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. Dr Kitzman was supported in part by the Kermit Glenn Phillips II Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and National Institutes of Health grants U01AG076928, R01AG078153, R01AG045551, R01AG18915, and U01HL160272; has received honoraria as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corvia Medical, Ketyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; has received grant funding from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; and has stock ownership in Gilead Sciences. Dr Petrie has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Roche, and SQ Innovations; and has received consultancy and committee payments for AbbVie, Akero, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiorentis, Horizon Therapeutics, New Amsterdam, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, Takeda, Teikoku, and Vifor. Dr Shah has received consulting fees from Abbott, Amgen, Aria CV, AstraZeneca, Axon Therapies, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cyclerion, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eidos, Imara, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia, Ionis, Lilly, Merck, Metabolic Flux, MyoKardia, NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Prothena, Regeneron, Rivus, Sardocor, Shifamed, Tenax, Tenaya, and United Therapeutics. Dr Verma has received research grants or consultancy fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Napp Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Roche, and SQ Innovations; has served on committees for AbbVie, Akero, Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, New Amsterdam, Novo Nordisk, Resverlogix, and Teikoku; and is Director of Global Clinical Trial Partners (GCTP). Dr Abhayaratna has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Chopra has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Lupin, Mankind, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, and Torrent. Dr Ezekowitz has received research support for trial leadership from American Regent, Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, Cytokinetics, Merck, and Novo Nordisk; has received honoraria for consultancy from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Otsuka; and serves as an advisor to US2.ai. Dr Ito has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Mochida, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Lelonek has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ewopharma, Gedeon Richter, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and Servier. Dr Núñez has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Alleviant, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Rovi, and Vifor. Dr Perna has received honoraria from Novo Nordisk. Dr Schou has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Senni has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Vifor. Dr van der Meer has received institutional payments for consultancy fees and/or grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, BridgeBio, Ionis, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharma Nord, and Vifor. Dr von Lewinski has received honoraria and/or consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Recardio, Sanofi, Sanova, and Vaxxinity. Dr Wolf is a member of SFB1425, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation); and has received consultancy fees from Novo Nordisk and Novartis. Drs Abildstrøm, Altschul, and Rasmussen are employees of and hold shares in Novo Nordisk. Dr Kosiborod has served as a consultant or on an advisory board for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, and Youngene Therapeutics; has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer; holds stocks in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics; has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk; and has received other research support from AstraZeneca. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Measurement of natriuresis has been suggested as a reliable, easily obtainable biomarker for assessment of the response to diuretic treatment in patients with acute heart failure (AHF). Here, to assess whether natriuresis-guided diuretic therapy in patients with AHF improves natriuresis and clinical outcomes, we conducted the pragmatic, open-label Pragmatic Urinary Sodium-based algoritHm in Acute Heart Failure trial, in which 310 patients (45% female) with AHF requiring treatment with intravenous loop diuretics were randomly assigned to natriuresis-guided therapy or standard of care (SOC). In the natriuresis-guided arm, natriuresis was determined at set timepoints, prompting treatment intensification if spot urinary sodium levels were <70 mmol l -1 . The dual primary endpoints were 24 h urinary sodium excretion and a combined endpoint of time to all-cause mortality or adjudicated heart failure rehospitalization at 180 days. The first primary endpoint was met, as natriuresis in the natriuresis-guided and SOC arms was 409 ± 178 mmol arm versus 345 ± 202 mmol, respectively (P = 0.0061). However, there were no significant differences between the two arms for the combined endpoint of time to all-cause mortality or first heart failure rehospitalization, which occurred in 46 (31%) and 50 (31%) of patients in the natriuresis-guided and SOC arms, respectively (hazard ratio 0.92 [95% confidence interval 0.62-1.38], P = 0.6980). These findings suggest that natriuresis-guided therapy could be a first step towards personalized treatment of AHF. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT04606927 ., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is increasing in prevalence and is associated with a high symptom burden and functional impairment, especially in persons with obesity. No therapies have been approved to target obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction., Methods: We randomly assigned 529 patients who had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 30 or higher to receive once-weekly semaglutide (2.4 mg) or placebo for 52 weeks. The dual primary end points were the change from baseline in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire clinical summary score (KCCQ-CSS; scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating fewer symptoms and physical limitations) and the change in body weight. Confirmatory secondary end points included the change in the 6-minute walk distance; a hierarchical composite end point that included death, heart failure events, and differences in the change in the KCCQ-CSS and 6-minute walk distance; and the change in the C-reactive protein (CRP) level., Results: The mean change in the KCCQ-CSS was 16.6 points with semaglutide and 8.7 points with placebo (estimated difference, 7.8 points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.8 to 10.9; P<0.001), and the mean percentage change in body weight was -13.3% with semaglutide and -2.6% with placebo (estimated difference, -10.7 percentage points; 95% CI, -11.9 to -9.4; P<0.001). The mean change in the 6-minute walk distance was 21.5 m with semaglutide and 1.2 m with placebo (estimated difference, 20.3 m; 95% CI, 8.6 to 32.1; P<0.001). In the analysis of the hierarchical composite end point, semaglutide produced more wins than placebo (win ratio, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.37 to 2.15; P<0.001). The mean percentage change in the CRP level was -43.5% with semaglutide and -7.3% with placebo (estimated treatment ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.72; P<0.001). Serious adverse events were reported in 35 participants (13.3%) in the semaglutide group and 71 (26.7%) in the placebo group., Conclusions: In patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and obesity, treatment with semaglutide (2.4 mg) led to larger reductions in symptoms and physical limitations, greater improvements in exercise function, and greater weight loss than placebo. (Funded by Novo Nordisk; STEP-HFpEF ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04788511.)., (Copyright © 2023 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

In the STEP-HFpEF trial, semaglutide improved symptoms, physical limitations and exercise function and reduced body weight in patients with obesity phenotype of heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). This prespecified analysis examined the effects of semaglutide on dual primary endpoints (change in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS) and body weight) and confirmatory secondary endpoints (change in 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), hierarchical composite (death, HF events, change in KCCQ-CSS and 6MWD) and change in C-reactive protein (CRP)) across obesity classes I-III (body mass index (BMI) 30.0-34.9 kg m - 2 , 35.0-39.9 kg m - 2 and ≥40 kg m - 2 ) and according to body weight reduction with semaglutide after 52 weeks. Semaglutide consistently improved all outcomes across obesity categories (P value for treatment effects × BMI interactions = not significant for all). In semaglutide-treated patients, improvements in KCCQ-CSS, 6MWD and CRP were greater with larger body weight reduction (for example, 6.4-point (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.1, 8.8) and 14.4-m (95% CI: 5.5, 23.3) improvements in KCCQ-CSS and 6MWD for each 10% body weight reduction). In participants with obesity phenotype of HFpEF, semaglutide improved symptoms, physical limitations and exercise function and reduced inflammation and body weight across obesity categories. In semaglutide-treated patients, the magnitude of benefit was directly related to the extent of weight loss. Collectively, these data support semaglutide-mediated weight loss as a key treatment strategy in patients with obesity phenotype of HFpEF. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04788511 ., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Reduced kidney function is common among patients with heart failure. In patients with heart failure and/or kidney disease, iron deficiency is an independent predictor of adverse outcomes. In the AFFIRM-AHF trial, patients with acute heart failure with iron deficiency treated with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose demonstrated reduced risk of heart failure hospitalization, with improved quality of life. We aimed to further characterize the impact of ferric carboxymaltose among patients with coexisting kidney impairment., Methods: The double-blind, placebo-controlled AFFIRM-AHF trial randomized 1132 stabilized adults with acute heart failure (left ventricular ejection fraction <50%) and iron deficiency. Patients on dialysis were excluded. The primary end point was a composite of total heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular death during the 52-week follow-up period. Additional end points included cardiovascular hospitalizations, total heart failure hospitalizations, and days lost to heart failure hospitalizations or cardiovascular death. For this subgroup analysis, patients were stratified according to baseline eGFR., Results: Overall, 60% of patients had an eGFR <60 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 (the lower eGFR subgroup). These patients were significantly older, more likely to be female and to have ischemic heart failure, and had higher baseline serum phosphate levels and higher rates of anemia. For all end points, event rates were higher in the lower eGFR group. In the lower eGFR group, the annualized event rates for the primary composite outcome were 68.96 and 86.30 per 100 patient-years in the ferric carboxymaltose and placebo arms, respectively (rate ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.54 to 1.06). The treatment effect was similar in the higher eGFR subgroup (rate ratio, 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.42 to 1.02; Pinteraction = 0.60). A similar pattern was observed for all end points ( Pinteraction > 0.05)., Conclusions: In a cohort of patients with acute heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction <50%, and iron deficiency, the safety and efficacy of ferric carboxymaltose were consistent across a range of eGFR values., Clinical Trial Registry Name and Registration Number: Study to Compare Ferric Carboxymaltose With Placebo in Patients With Acute Heart Failure and Iron Deficiency (Affirm-AHF), NCT02937454 ., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of American Society of Nephrology.)

Background: In AFFIRM-AHF, treatment of iron deficiency with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) reduced the risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalization and improved quality of life (QoL) vs placebo in patients stabilized following an acute HF (AHF) episode, with no effect on cardiovascular (CV) death. Diabetes and iron deficiency frequently accompany AHF. This post hoc analysis explored the effects of diabetes on outcomes in AFFIRM-AHF patients., Methods: Patients were stratified by diabetes yes/no at baseline. The effects of FCM vs placebo on primary (total HF hospitalizations and CV death) and secondary (total CV hospitalizations and CV death; CV death; total HF hospitalizations; time to first HF hospitalization or CV death; and days lost due to HF hospitalizations or CV death) endpoints at Week 52 and change vs baseline in disease-specific QoL (12-item Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire [KCCQ-12]) at Week 24 were assessed by subgroup. For each endpoint, the interaction between diabetes status and treatment outcome was explored., Results: Of 1108 AFFIRM-AHF patients, 475 (FCM: 231; placebo: 244) had diabetes and 633 (FCM: 327; placebo: 306) did not have diabetes. Patients with diabetes were more commonly male (61.5% vs 50.9%), with a higher frequency of ischemic HF etiology (57.9% vs 39.0%), prior HF history (77.7% vs 66.5%), and comorbidities (including previous myocardial infarction [49.3% vs 32.9%] and chronic kidney disease [51.4% vs 32.4%]) than those without diabetes. The annualized event rate/100 patient-years with FCM vs placebo for the primary endpoint was 66.9 vs 80.9 in patients with diabetes (rate ratio [RR]: 0.83, 95% CI 0.58-1.81) and 51.3 vs 66.9 in patients without diabetes (RR: 0.77, 95% CI 0.55-1.07), with no significant interaction between diabetes status and treatment effect (p interaction  = 0.76). Similar findings were observed for secondary outcomes. Change from baseline in KCCQ-12 overall summary score was numerically greater with FCM vs placebo at almost all time points in both subgroups, with no interaction between diabetes and treatment effect at Week 24., Conclusions: The clinical and QoL benefits observed with intravenous FCM in patients with iron deficiency following stabilization from an AHF episode are independent of diabetes status. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02937454 (registered 10.18.2016)., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Aim: The globalization of clinical trials has highlighted geographic differences in patient characteristics, treatments, and outcomes. We examined these differences in PARADISE-MI., Methods and Results: Overall, 23.0% were randomized in Eastern Europe/Russia, 17.5% in Western Europe, 12.2% in Southern Europe, 10.1% in Northern Europe, 12.0% in Latin America (LA), 9.3% in North America (NA), 10.0% in East/South-East Asia and 5.8% in South Asia (SA). Those from Asia, particularly SA, were different from patients enrolled in the other regions, being younger and thinner. They also differed in terms of comorbidities (high prevalence of diabetes and low prevalence of atrial fibrillation), type of myocardial infarction (more often ST-elevation myocardial infarction), and treatment (low rate of primary percutaneous coronary intervention). By contrast, patients from LA did not differ meaningfully from those randomized in Europe or NA. Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (34.8%) and beta-blockers (65.5%) was low in SA, whereas mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist use was lowest in NA (22%) and highest in Eastern Europe/Russia (53%). Rates of the primary composite outcome of cardiovascular death or incident heart failure varied two-fold among regions, with the lowest rate in SA (4.6/100 person-years) and the highest in LA (9.2/100 person-years). Rates of incident heart failure varied almost six-fold among regions, with the lowest rate in SA (1.0/100 person-years) and the highest in Northern Europe (5.9/100 person-years). The effect of sacubitril/valsartan was not modified by region., Conclusion: In PARADISE-MI, there were substantial regional differences in patient characteristics, treatments and outcomes. Although the generalizability of these findings to a 'real-world' unselected population may be limited, these findings underscore the importance of considering both regional and within-region differences when designing global clinical trials., (© 2023 European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Transthyretin amyloid (ATTR) cardiomyopathy is a progressive and fatal disease caused by misfolded transthyretin. Despite advances in slowing disease progression, there is no available treatment that depletes ATTR from the heart for the amelioration of cardiac dysfunction. NI006 is a recombinant human anti-ATTR antibody that was developed for the removal of ATTR by phagocytic immune cells., Methods: In this phase 1, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned (in a 2:1 ratio) 40 patients with wild-type or variant ATTR cardiomyopathy and chronic heart failure to receive intravenous infusions of either NI006 or placebo every 4 weeks for 4 months. Patients were sequentially enrolled in six cohorts that received ascending doses (ranging from 0.3 to 60 mg per kilogram of body weight). After four infusions, patients were enrolled in an open-label extension phase in which they received eight infusions of NI006 with stepwise increases in the dose. The safety and pharmacokinetic profiles of NI006 were assessed, and cardiac imaging studies were performed., Results: The use of NI006 was associated with no apparent drug-related serious adverse events. The pharmacokinetic profile of NI006 was consistent with that of an IgG antibody, and no antidrug antibodies were detected. At doses of at least 10 mg per kilogram, cardiac tracer uptake on scintigraphy and extracellular volume on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, both of which are imaging-based surrogate markers of cardiac amyloid load, appeared to be reduced over a period of 12 months. The median N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and troponin T levels also seemed to be reduced., Conclusions: In this phase 1 trial of the recombinant human antibody NI006 for the treatment of patients with ATTR cardiomyopathy and heart failure, the use of NI006 was associated with no apparent drug-related serious adverse events. (Funded by Neurimmune; NI006-101 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04360434.)., (Copyright © 2023 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Aims: The importance of autoantibodies (AABs) against adrenergic/muscarinic receptors in heart failure (HF) is not well-understood. We investigated the prevalence and clinical/prognostic associations of four AABs recognizing the M2-muscarinic receptor or the β1-, β2-, or β3-adrenergic receptor in a large and well-characterized cohort of patients with HF., Methods and Results: Serum samples from 2256 patients with HF from the BIOSTAT-CHF cohort and 299 healthy controls were analysed using newly established chemiluminescence immunoassays. The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause mortality and HF rehospitalization at 2-year follow-up, and each outcome was also separately investigated. Collectively, 382 (16.9%) patients and 37 (12.4%) controls were seropositive for ≥1 AAB (P = 0.045). Seropositivity occurred more frequently only for anti-M2 AABs (P = 0.025). Amongst patients with HF, seropositivity was associated with the presence of comorbidities (renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, and atrial fibrillation) and with medication use. Only anti-β1 AAB seropositivity was associated with the primary outcome [hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.37 (1.04-1.81), P = 0.024] and HF rehospitalization [1.57 (1.13-2.19), P = 0.010] in univariable analyses but remained associated only with HF rehospitalization after multivariable adjustment for the BIOSTAT-CHF risk model [1.47 (1.05-2.07), P = 0.030]. Principal component analyses showed considerable overlap in B-lymphocyte activity between seropositive and seronegative patients, based on 31 circulating biomarkers related to B-lymphocyte function., Conclusions: AAB seropositivity was not strongly associated with adverse outcomes in HF and was mostly related to the presence of comorbidities and medication use. Only anti-β1 AABs were independently associated with HF rehospitalization. The exact clinical value of AABs remains to be elucidated., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: A.A.V. received consultancy fees and/or research grants from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Cytokinetics, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Roche diagnostics. P.v.d.M. received consultancy fees and/or grants from Novartis, Corvidia, Singulex, Servier, Vifor Pharma, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Ionis. R.A.d.B. received grants from AstraZeneca, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardior Pharmaceuticals Gmbh, Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novo Nordisk, and Roche and speaker fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, and Roche. F.Z. received personal fees for trial oversight committees, advisory boards, or speakers’ bureau from Acceleron, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer, Cardior, Cereno Scientific, CellProthera, CVRx, G3 Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Merck AG, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Servier, and Vifor Fresenius and is the co-founder of CardioRenal and CVCT. J.G.F.C. received consultancy fees and/or research grants from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, MyoKardia, Novartis, NI Medical, Pharmacosmos, Pharma Nord, Philips, Respicardia, Servier, Torrent, Vifor, and Viscardia. M.M. reports fees from Actelion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, LivaNova, Servier, Vifor Pharma, and Windtree Therapeutics as a member of clinical trial committees or advisory boards and from Abbott vascular, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Edwards Therapeutics for speeches at sponsored meetings in the last 3 years. W.B.M., P.S., and P.L. are founders of ImmunometriX. W.B.M. and L.S. are listed as inventors on a patent application. All other authors have no relationships to disclose that could be construed as a conflict of interest with regard to this manuscript., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Iron deficiency, with or without anemia, is an adverse prognostic factor in heart failure (HF). In AFFIRM-AHF (a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial comparing the effect of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose on hospitalizations and mortality in iron-deficient subjects admitted for acute heart failure), intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), although having no significant effect on the primary end point, reduced the risk of HF hospitalization (hHF) and improved quality of life versus placebo in iron-deficient patients stabilized after an acute HF (AHF) episode. These prespecified AFFIRM-AHF subanalyses explored the association between hemoglobin levels and FCM treatment effects., Methods: AFFIRM-AHF was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of FCM in hospitalized AHF patients with iron deficiency. Patients were stratified by baseline hemoglobin level (<12 versus ≥12 g/dL). In each subgroup, the primary composite (total hHF and cardiovascular death) and secondary (total hHF; total cardiovascular hospitalizations and cardiovascular death; time to cardiovascular death, and time to first/days lost due to hHF or cardiovascular death) outcomes were assessed with FCM versus placebo at week 52. Sensitivity analyses using the World Health Organization anemia definition (hemoglobin level <12 g/dL [women] or <13 g/dL [men]) were performed, among others., Results: Of 1108 AFFIRM-AHF patients, 1107 were included in these subanalyses: 464 (FCM group, 228; placebo group, 236) had a hemoglobin level <12 g/dL, and 643 (FCM, 329; placebo, 314) had a hemoglobin level ≥12 g/dL. Patients with a hemoglobin level <12 g/dL were older (mean, 73.7 versus 69.1 years), with more frequent previous HF (75.0% versus 68.7%), serum ferritin <100 μg/L (75.4% versus 68.1%), and transferrin saturation <20% (87.9% versus 81.4%). For the primary outcome, annualized event rates per 100 patient-years with FCM versus placebo were 71.1 and 73.6 (rate ratio, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.66-1.41]), respectively, and 48.5 versus 72.9 (RR, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.48-0.93]) in the hemoglobin levels <12 and ≥12 g/dL subgroups, respectively. No significant interactions between hemoglobin subgroup and treatment effect were observed for primary ( P interaction =0.15) or secondary outcomes. Changes from baseline in hemoglobin, serum ferritin and transferrin saturation were significantly greater with FCM versus placebo in both subgroups between weeks 6 and 52. Findings were similar using the World Health Organization definition for anemia., Conclusions: The effects of intravenous FCM on outcomes in iron-deficient patients stabilized after an AHF episode, including improvements in iron parameters over time, did not differ between patients with hemoglobin levels <12 and ≥12 g/dL., Registration: URL: https://www., Clinicaltrials: gov; Unique identifier: NCT02937454., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Filippatos has received personal fees from Servier (lecture and registry committee member), Novartis (lecture fees and trial/registry committee member), and Boehringer Ingelheim (lecture and trial committee member). Dr Ponikowski has received research grants and personal fees from Vifor Pharma (principal investigator of AFFIRM-AHF [a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial comparing the effect of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose on hospitalizations and mortality in iron-deficient subjects admitted for acute heart failure]; participation in clinical trials); personal fees from Amgen, Bayer, Novartis, Abbott Vascular, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Servier, AstraZeneca, Berlin Chemie, Cibiem, BMS, and Impulse Dynamics (participation in clinical trials). Dr Farmakis has received speaker honoraria and/or consultation fees from Abbott Laboratories, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Leo, Novartis, and Orion, outside the submitted work. Dr Anker has received grants from Abbott Vascular and Vifor International; and personal fees from Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bioventrix, Brahms, Cardiac Dimensions, Cardior, Cordio, CVRx, Edwards, Impulse Dynamics, Janssen, Novartis, Occlutech, Respicardia, Servier, Vectorious and V-Wave, all outside the submitted work. Dr Butler has received personal fees from Vifor Pharma, Abbott, Adrenomed, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, Array, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CVRx, G3 Pharma, Impulse Dynamics, Innolife, Janssen, LivaNova, Luitpold, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Relypsa, Sequana Medical, and V-Wave Limited (consultant). Drs Fabien and Waechter have received personal fees from Vifor Pharma (Vifor Pharma employee). Dr Macdougall has received personal fees for consulting from Vifor Pharma and GlaxoSmithKline and played a leadership/fiduciary role in the ASCEND trial steering committee for GlaxoSmithKline. Dr Metra has received personal fees from Vifor Pharma (executive committee member), Amgen (executive committee member and national principal investigator), AstraZeneca, Abbott Vascular, Bayer (participation in advisory boards), Servier (participation in advisory boards and speeches at sponsored symposia), Edwards Therapeutics (speeches at sponsored symposia), Actelion (DMC member), LivaNova (executive committee member), and Windtree Therapeutics (executive committee member and advisory board). Dr Ruschitzka reports personal fees from Vifor for his role in the clinical event adjudication committee for Vifor in 2016 during the conduct of the study; he has not received personal payments by pharmaceutical companies or device manufacturers in the last 3 years (remuneration for the time spent in activities, such as participation in, and a steering committee member of, clinical trials, were made directly to the University of Zurich). The Department of Cardiology (University Hospital of Zurich/University of Zurich) reports research, educational, and/or travel grants from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, B. Braun, Biosense Webster, Biosensors Europe AG, Biotronik, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bracco, Cardinal Health Switzerland, Daiichi, Diatools AG, Edwards Lifesciences, Guidant Europe NV (BS), Hamilton Health Sciences, Kaneka Corporation, Labormedizinisches Zentrum, Medtronic, MSD, Mundipharma Medical Company, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Orion, Pfizer, Quintiles Switzerland Sarl, Sanofi, Sarstedt AG, Servier, SIS Medical, SSS International Clinical Research, Terumo Deutschland, V-Wave, Vascular Medical, Vifor, Wissens Plus, and ZOLL. Research and educational grants do not impact Dr Ruschitzka’s personal remuneration. The University Medical Center Groningen, which employs Dr van der Meer, has received research grants and fees from Vifor Pharma (executive committee, speaker); research grants from AstraZeneca, Ionis, Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, and Pharma Nord; and speaker fees from Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, BridgeBio and Abbott. Dr Jankowska has received research grants and personal fees from Vifor Pharma (co-principal investigator of the AFFIRM trial); personal fees from Bayer, Novartis, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Servier, AstraZeneca, Berlin Chemie, Cardiac Dimensions, Fresenius, and Gedeon Richter. Drs Kirwan and Rosano declare no competing interests.

Background: Serum selenium levels have been associated with the incidence of heart failure (HF) and signs of the metabolic syndrome. In addition, notable differences have been reported between males and females in food intake and micronutrient metabolism, possibly explaining different health outcomes., Objective: Our objective was to elucidate sex-specific, cross-sectional phenotypic differences in the association of serum selenium concentrations with parameters of metabolic syndrome and HF., Methods: We investigated data from individuals from a community-based cohort (PREVEND; N = 4288) and heart failure cohort (BIOSTAT-CHF; N = 1994). In both populations, cross-sectional analyses were performed for potential interaction (p < 0.1) between sex and serum selenium with overlapping signs and clinical parameters of the metabolic syndrome and HF., Results: Baseline selenium levels of the total cohort were similar between PREVEND (85.7 μg/L) and BIOSTAT-CHF (89.1 μg/L). Females with lower selenium levels had a higher BMI and increased prevalence of diabetes than females with higher selenium, in both PREVEND (p interaction  < 0.001; p interaction  = 0.040, resp.) and BIOSTAT-CHF (p interaction  = 0.021; p interaction  = 0.024, resp.), while opposite associations were observed for males. Additionally, in females, but not in males, lower selenium was associated with a higher prevalence of myocardial infarction (MI) in PREVEND (p interaction  = 0.021) and BIOSTAT-CHF (p interaction  = 0.084)., Conclusion: Lower selenium was associated with a higher BMI and increased prevalence of diabetes in females, opposite to males, and was also associated with more MI in females. Interventional studies are needed to validate this observation., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Aims: Management of comorbidities represents a critical step in optimal treatment of heart failure (HF) patients. However, minimal attention has been paid whether comorbidity burden and their prognostic value changes over time. Therefore, we examined the association between comorbidities and clinical outcomes in HF patients between 2002 and 2017., Methods and Results: The 2002-HF cohort consisted of patients from The Coordinating Study Evaluating Outcomes of Advising and Counseling in Heart Failure (COACH) trial (n = 1,032). The 2017-HF cohort were outpatient HF patients enrolled after hospitalization for HF in a tertiary referral academic hospital (n = 382). Kaplan meier and cox regression analyses were used to assess the association of comorbidities with HF hospitalization and all-cause mortality. Patients from the 2017-cohort were more likely to be classified as HF with preserved ejection fraction (24 vs 15%, p < 0.001), compared to patients from the 2002-cohort. Comorbidity burden was comparable between both cohorts (mean of 3.9 comorbidities per patient) and substantially increased with age. Higher comorbidity burden was significantly associated with a comparable increased risk for HF hospitalization and all-cause mortality (HR 1.12 [1.02-1.22] and HR 1.18 [1.05-1.32]), in the 2002- and 2017-cohort respectively. When assessing individual comorbidities, obesity yielded a statistically higher prognostic effect on outcome in the 2017-cohort compared to the 2002-HF cohort (p for interaction 0.026)., Conclusion: Despite major advances in HF treatment over the past decades, comorbidity burden remains high in HF and influences outcome to a large extent. Obesity emerges as a prominent comorbidity, and efforts should be made for prevention and treatment. Created with BioRender.com., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: In patients who survive an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors decrease the risk of subsequent major cardiovascular events. Whether angiotensin-receptor blockade and neprilysin inhibition with sacubitril/valsartan reduce major coronary events more effectively than angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in high-risk patients with recent AMI remains unknown. We aimed to compare the effects of sacubitril/valsartan on coronary outcomes in patients with AMI., Methods: We conducted a prespecified analysis of the PARADISE-MI trial (Prospective ARNI vs ACE Inhibitors Trial to Determine Superiority in Reducing Heart Failure Events After MI), which compared sacubitril/valsartan (97/103 mg twice daily) with ramipril (5 mg twice daily) for reducing heart failure events after myocardial infarction in 5661 patients with AMI complicated by left ventricular systolic dysfunction, pulmonary congestion, or both. In the present analysis, the prespecified composite coronary outcome was the first occurrence of death from coronary heart disease, nonfatal myocardial infarction, hospitalization for angina, or postrandomization coronary revascularization., Results: Patients were randomly assigned at a median of 4.4 [3.0-5.8] days after index AMI (ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction 76%, non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction 24%), by which time 89% of patients had undergone coronary reperfusion. Compared with ramipril, sacubitril/valsartan decreased the risk of coronary outcomes (hazard ratio, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.74-0.99], P =0.04) over a median follow-up of 22 months. Rates of the components of the composite outcomes were lower in patients on sacubitril/valsartan but were not individually significantly different., Conclusions: In survivors of an AMI with left ventricular systolic dysfunction and pulmonary congestion, sacubitril/valsartan-compared with ramipril-reduced the risk of a prespecified major coronary composite outcome. Dedicated studies are necessary to confirm this finding and elucidate its mechanism., Registration: URL: https://www., Clinicaltrials: gov; Unique identifier: NCT02924727.

Aims: Insulin like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) is a marker of senescence secretome and a novel biomarker in patients with heart failure (HF). We evaluated the prognostic value of IGFBP7 in patients with heart failure and examined associations to uncover potential new pathophysiological pathways related to increased plasma IGFBP7 concentrations., Methods and Results: We have measured plasma IGFBP7 concentrations in 2250 subjects with new-onset or worsening heart failure (BIOSTAT-CHF cohort). Higher IGFBP7 plasma concentrations were found in older subjects, those with worse kidney function, history of atrial fibrillation, and diabetes mellitus type 2, and in subjects with higher number of HF hospitalizations. Higher IGFBP7 levels also correlate with the levels of several circulating biomarkers, including higher NT-proBNP, hsTnT, and urea levels. Cox regression analyses showed that higher plasma IGFBP7 concentrations were strongly associated with increased risk of all three main endpoints (hospitalization, all-cause mortality, and combined hospitalization and mortality) (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.25-2.46; HR 1.71, 95% CI 1.39-2.11; and HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.23-1.70, respectively). IGFBP7 remained a significant predictor of these endpoints in patients with both reduced and preserved ejection fraction. Likelihood ratio test showed significant improvement of all three risk prediction models, after adding IGFBP7 (P < 0.001). A biomarker network analysis showed that IGFBP7 levels activate different pathways involved in the regulation of the immune system. Results were externally validated in BIOSTAT-CHF validation cohort., Conclusions: IGFPB7 presents as an independent and robust prognostic biomarker in patients with HF, with both reduced and preserved ejection fraction. We validate the previously published data showing IGFBP7 has correlations with a number of echocardiographic markers. Lastly, IGFBP7 pathways are involved in different stages of immune system regulation, linking heart failure to senescence pathways., (© 2022 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Advances in treatment, common cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and the ageing of the population have led to an increasing number of cancer patients presenting with acute CV diseases. These events may be related to cancer itself or cancer treatment. Acute cardiac care specialists must be aware of these acute CV complications and be able to manage them. This may require an individualized and multidisciplinary approach. The management of acute coronary syndromes and acute pericardial diseases in cancer patients was covered in part 1 of a clinical consensus document. This second part focusses on acute heart failure, acute myocardial diseases, venous thromboembolic diseases and acute arrhythmias., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: P.L.: nothing in relation to this work. A.S.: nothing in relation to this work. G.G.: has received speaker honoraria from Novartis, Orion Pharma, AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. R.A.: nothing in relation to this work. G.B.: nothing in relation to this work. S.H.: nothing in relation to this work. G.L.: nothing in relation to this work. D.F.: speaker’s honoraria or advisory board fees from Abbott Laboratories, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Leo Pharmaceuticals, Menarini, Novartis, Orion Pharma, Roche Diagnostics. S.G.: speaker’s and advisory fees (all institutional) from AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Boehringer. P.S.: speaker’s and advisory fees (all institutional) from AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bayer, Boehringer, Pfizer, BMS, Amgen, Sanofi. P.V.D.M.: consultancy and/or Servier, Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Ionis. Supported by the ERC (StG 715732). A.R.L.: speaker, advisory board, or consultancy fees and/or research grants from Pfizer, Novartis, Servier, Amgen, Takeda, Roche, Janssens-Cilag Ltd., Clinigen, Eli Lily, Eisai, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Myocardial Solutions, iOWNA, and Heartfelt Technologies Ltd. A.O.: speaker’s and advisory fees from Seagen, Roche, Diaichi-Sankyo, and Astra Zeneca. Travel support from Lilly, Astra Zeneca, and Leo Pharmaceuticals. A.W.: honorarium, advisory board or consultancy fees: Janssen Cilag, GSK, Alexion, Caelum, Takeda, Celgene., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: To investigate the impact of patiromer on the serum potassium level and its ability to enable specified target doses of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor (RAASi) use in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF)., Methods and Results: A total of 1642 patients with HFrEF and current or a history of RAASi-related hyperkalemia were screened and 1195 were enrolled in the run-in phase with patiromer and optimization of the RAASi therapy [≥50% recommended dose of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker/angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor, and 50 mg of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) spironolactone or eplerenone]. Specified target doses of the RAASi therapy were achieved in 878 (84.6%) patients; 439 were randomized to patiromer and 439 to placebo. All patients, physicians, and outcome assessors were blinded to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was between-group difference in the adjusted mean change in serum potassium. Five hierarchical secondary endpoints were assessed. At the end of treatment, the median (interquartile range) duration of follow-up was 27 (13-43) weeks, the adjusted mean change in potassium was +0.03 mmol/l in the patiromer group and +0.13 mmol/l in the placebo group [difference in the adjusted mean change between patiromer and placebo: -0.10 mmol/l (95% confidence interval, CI -0.13, 0.07); P < 0.001]. Risk of hyperkalemia >5.5 mmol/l [hazard ratio (HR) 0.63; 95% CI 0.45, 0.87; P = 0.006), reduction of MRA dose (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45, 0.87; P = 0.006), and total adjusted hyperkalemia events/100 person-years (77.7 vs. 118.2; HR 0.66; 95% CI 0.53, 0.81; P < 0.001) were lower with patiromer. Hyperkalemia-related morbidity-adjusted events (win ratio 1.53, P < 0.001) and total RAASi use score (win ratio 1.25, P = 0.048) favored the patiromer arm. Adverse events were similar between groups., Conclusion: Concurrent use of patiromer and high-dose MRAs reduces the risk of recurrent hyperkalemia (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03888066)., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. T.F. reported consulting fees from Vifor Pharma, Bayer, Biosense Webster, CSL Behring, Galapagos, Minoryx, Novartis, LivaNova, Janssen, Roche, and honoraria from Fresenius Kabi. J.B. reported consulting fees from Abbott, Adrenomed, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, Array, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CVRx, G3 Pharma, Impulse Dynamics, Innolife, Janssen, LivaNova, Luitpold, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Relypsa, Sequana Medical, and Vifor Pharma. G.F. reported honoraria from Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim, committee membership for Medtronic, Vifor Pharma, Amgen, Servier, and Novartis, and grants from the European Commission. M.R.W. reported consulting fees from Vifor Pharma and AstraZeneca, and honoraria from Vifor Pharma. P.V.d.M. reported grants from Vifor Pharma, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Ionis, consulting fees from Vifor Pharma, Novartis and AstraZeneca, and honoraria from Vifor Pharma and Pharmacosmos. L.H.L. reported grants from AstraZeneca, Vifor, Boston Scientific, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis, consulting fees from Merck, Vifor Pharma, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pharmacosmos, MedScape, Sanofi, Lexicon, Myokardia, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Servier, honoraria from Abbott, MedScape, Radcliffe, AstraZeneca, and Novartis, and stock options and patents with AnaCardio. F.D. reported support and stock options from Vifor Pharma as a Vifor employee. F.P. reported consulting fees from Vifor Pharma and Novo Nordisk, honoraria from Servier, Pfizer, Novartis, and Boehringer Ingelheim, and presidency (unpaid) of the World Heart Federation. S.D.A. reports consulting fees from Abbott, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiac Dimension, Cordio, Impulse Dynamics, Novartis, Occlutech, Servier, and Vifor Pharma, and grant support from Abbott and Vifor Pharma. M.M. reported consulting fees from Actelion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Abbott Vascular, Bayer, Servier, Edwards Therapeutics, Livanova, Vifor Pharma, and WindTree Therapeutics. UMG reports grants, support and stock options from Vifor Pharma. M.K. reported consulting fees from Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Janssen, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Vifor Pharma, grants from AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim, and grant support from Abbott and Vifor Pharma, and honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk. A.C. reported honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Menarini, Novartis, Nutricia, Servier, Vifor, Abbott, Actimed, Arena, Cardiac Dimensions, Corvia, CVRx, Enopace, ESN Cleer, Faraday, Gore, Impulse Dynamics, Respicardia, and Viatris. P.R. reported grants from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Fresenius, Novartis, Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma, Relypsa, and Vifor, consulting fees from Bayer, Idorsia, G3P, KBP, and Sanofi, honoraria from Sequana medical, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Fresenius, Novartis, Grünenthal, Stealth Peptides, Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal, Novo Nordisk, Ablative Solutions, Corvidia, Relypsa, and Vifor CardioRenal, and non-financial support from Servier, Fresenius, and G3P. I.L.P. serves on an advisory board for Vifor Pharma Ltd and on the Steering Committee of the DIAMOND clinical trial. B.P. reported consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim/Lilly, Sanofi/Lexicon, SCPharmaceuticals, SQinnovations, G3 Pharmaceuticals, Sarfez, KBP biosciences, Cereno scientific, Phase bio, Proton Intel, and Vifor Pharma, stock options from SCPharmaceuticals, SQinnovations, G3 Pharmaceuticals, Sarfez, Cereno scientific, KBP biosciences, Proton Intel, and Vifor Pharma, US Patent 9931412- site specific delivery of eplerenone to the myocardium, and US Patent pending 63/045,783—Histone-modulating agents for the treatment and prevention of organ damage. No other authors reported disclosures., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors attenuate left ventricular (LV) enlargement after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Preclinical data suggest similar benefits with combined angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibition, but human data are conflicting. The PARADISE-MI Echo Study (Prospective ARNI Versus ACE Inhibitor Trial to Determine Superiority in Reducing Heart Failure Events After Myocardial Infarction) tested the effect of sacubitril/valsartan compared with ramipril on LV function and adverse remodeling after high risk-AMI., Methods: In a prespecified substudy, 544 PARADISE-MI participants were enrolled in the Echo Study to undergo protocol echocardiography at randomization and after 8 months. Patients were randomized within 0.5 to 7 days of presentation with their index AMI to receive a target dose of sacubitril/valsartan 200 mg or ramipril 5 mg twice daily. Echocardiographic measures were performed at a core laboratory by investigators blinded to treatment assignment. The effect of treatment on change in echo measures was assessed with ANCOVA with adjustment for baseline value and enrollment region. The primary end points were change in LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and left atrial volume (LAV), and prespecified secondary end points included changes in LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes., Results: Mean age was 64±12 years; 26% were women; mean LVEF was 42±12%; and LAV was 49±17 mL. Of 544 enrolled patients, 457 (84%) had a follow-up echo at 8 months (228 taking sacubitril/valsartan, 229 taking ramipril). There was no significant difference in change in LVEF ( P =0.79) or LAV ( P =0.62) by treatment group. Patients randomized to sacubitril/valsartan demonstrated less increase in LV end-diastolic volume ( P =0.025) and greater decline in LV mass index ( P =0.037), increase in tissue Doppler e' lat ( P =0.005), decrease in E/e' lat ( P =0.045), and decrease in tricuspid regurgitation peak velocity ( P =0.024) than patients randomized to ramipril. These differences remained significant after adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics. Baseline LVEF, LV end-diastolic volume, LV end-systolic volume, LV mass index, LAV, and Doppler-based diastolic indices were associated with risk of cardiovascular death or incident heart failure., Conclusions: Treatment with sacubitril/valsartan compared with ramipril after AMI did not result in changes in LVEF or LAV at 8 months. Patients randomized to sacubitril/valsartan had less LV enlargement and greater improvement in filling pressure. Measures of LV size, systolic function, and diastolic properties were predictive of cardiovascular death and incident heart failure after AMI in this contemporary, well-treated cohort., Registration: URL: https://www., Clinicaltrials: gov; Unique identifier: NCT02924727.

Aim: The win ratio can incorporate different types of outcomes and enhance statistical power, making it a useful method for analysing composite outcomes in cardiovascular trials. The application of this approach to the PARADISE-MI trial provides an additional perspective into understanding the effects of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with acute myocardial infarction., Methods and Results: We conducted a post-hoc analysis of the PARADISE-MI trial, which randomly assigned patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary congestion, or both to receive either sacubitril/valsartan (97 mg of sacubitril and 103 mg of valsartan twice daily) or ramipril (5 mg twice daily) in addition to guideline-recommended therapy. The principal composite outcome was analysed in the hierarchical order of death due to cardiovascular causes, first hospitalization for heart failure, and first outpatient episode of symptomatic heart failure. We included events confirmed by the clinical events classification (CEC) committee as well as events identified by investigators that did not meet study definitions. Results were analysed by the unmatched win-ratio method. A win ratio that exceeds 1.00 reflects a better outcome. A total of 5661 patients underwent randomization; 2830 were assigned to receive sacubitril/valsartan and 2831 to receive ramipril. The hierarchical analysis of the principal composite outcome demonstrated a larger number of wins (1 265 767 [15.7%]) than losses (1 079 502 [13.4%]) in the sacubitril/valsartan group (win ratio of 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.33; p = 0.015). Sensitivity analyses using alternative definitions of the composite outcome showed results similar to those of the principal analysis, except for analysis restricted to events that met CEC definitions (win ratio of 1.11, 95% CI 0.96-1.30; p = 0.16)., Conclusion: In this post-hoc analysis of the PARADISE-MI trial using the win ratio and including investigator-identified events not having CEC confirmation, sacubitril/valsartan was superior to ramipril among high-risk survivors of acute myocardial infarction., (© 2022 European Society of Cardiology.)