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Aims: Patients with heart failure (HF) and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) have a particularly high prevalence of comorbidities, often necessitating treatment with many medications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between polypharmacy status and outcomes in PARAGON‐HF. Methods and results: In this post hoc analysis, baseline medication status was available in 4793 of 4796 patients included in the primary analysis of PARAGON‐HF. The effects of sacubitril/valsartan, compared with valsartan, were assessed according to the number of medications at baseline: 683 non‐polypharmacy (<5 medications); 2750 polypharmacy (5–9 medications), and 1360 hyper‐polypharmacy (≥10 medications). The primary outcome was total HF hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. Patients with hyper‐polypharmacy were older, had more severe limitations due to HF (worse New York Heart Association class and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire scores), and had greater comorbidity. The non‐adjusted risk of the primary outcome was significantly higher in patients taking more medications, and similar trends were seen for HF hospitalization and cardiovascular and all‐cause death. The effect of sacubitril/valsartan versus valsartan on the primary outcome from the lowest to highest polypharmacy category was (as a rate ratio): 1.19 (0.76–1.85), 0.94 (0.77–1.15), and 0.77 (0.61–0.96) (pinteraction = 0.16). Treatment‐related adverse events were more common in patients in the higher polypharmacy categories but not more common with sacubitril/valsartan, versus valsartan, in any polypharmacy category. Conclusions: Polypharmacy is very common in patients with HFpEF, and those with polypharmacy have worse clinical status and a higher rate of non‐fatal and fatal outcomes. The benefit of sacubitril/valsartan was not diminished in patients taking a larger number of medications at baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have emerged as a key pharmacotherapy in heart failure (HF) with both reduced and preserved ejection fraction. The benefit of other HF therapies may be modified by sex, but whether sex modifies the treatment effect and safety profile of SGLT2 inhibitors remains unclear. Our analyses aim to assess the impact of sex on the efficacy and safety of dapagliflozin.Methods: In a pre-specified patient-level pooled analysis of DAPA-HF and DELIVER, clinical outcomes were compared by sex (including the composite of cardiovascular [CV] death or worsening HF events; CV death; all-cause death, total events (first and recurrent HF hospitalization and CV death), and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire [KCCQ] scores) across the spectrum of left ventricular ejection fraction (EF).Results: Of a total of 11,007 randomized patients, 3856 (35%) were women. Women with HF were older, had higher body mass index, but were less likely to have a history of diabetes and myocardial infarction/stroke; and more likely to have hypertension and atrial fibrillation, compared to men. At baseline, women had higher EF but worse KCCQ scores than men. After adjusting for baseline differences, women were less likely than men to experience CV death (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.79), all-cause death (aHR 0.69, 95% 0.62-0.78), HF hospitalizations (aHR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.94), and total events (adjusted rate ratio 0.77, 95% CI 0.71-0.84). Dapagliflozin reduced the primary endpoint in both men and women similarly (p-interaction=0.77) with no sex-related differences in secondary outcomes (all p-interactions > 0.35) or safety events. The benefit of dapagliflozin was observed across the entire EF spectrum and was not modified by sex (p-interaction > 0.40). There were no sex-related differences in serious adverse events, adverse events, or drug discontinuation due to adverse events.Conclusions: In DAPA-HF and DELIVER, the response to dapagliflozin was similar between men and women. Sex did not modify the treatment effect of dapagliflozin across the range of ejection fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]