Delay in seeking treatment before emergent heart failure readmission and its association with clinical phenotype.

Background: Many patients with emergent heart failure (HF) readmission have a delay between symptom onset and hospitalization. The present study aimed to characterize the interval between symptom onset and hospitalization in patients being readmitted for HF and to compare the clinical phenotypes of patients with delay before emergent readmission with those who presented to the hospital earlier.
Methods: Data for a total of 2073 consecutive patients was collected from the Tokyo CCU Network database; the patients were divided into delayed (those who sought medical help > 2 days after symptom onset; n = 271) and early groups (remaining patients; n = 1802), and their clinical characteristics and mode of presentation were compared.
Results: Age, sex, and laboratory findings including brain natriuretic peptide and serum creatinine levels were not significantly different between the two groups. Patients in the delayed group had greater chronic fluid retention and symptoms not associated with respiratory failure, whereas those in the early group were more likely to have acute respiratory distress, faster heart and respiration rates, and higher systolic blood pressure.
Conclusions: More than one in ten patients with HF readmission delay seeking treatment > 2 days after symptom onset. Patients who delayed seeking treatment showed the phenotype of chronic fluid retention, whereas those who presented to the hospital earlier had the phenotype of acute respiratory failure.
Competing Interests: Competing interestsDr. Kohsaka received an unrestricted research grant for the Department of Cardiology, Keio University School of Medicine, from Bayer Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, and Daiichi Sankyo, Co., Ltd. Other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Dr. Shiraishi is affiliated with an endowed department by Nippon Shinyaku CO., Ltd., and received a research grant from the SECOM Science and Technology Foundation and an honorarium from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. There are no patents, products in development, or marketed products to declare.
(© The Author(s) 2020.)