Clinical outcomes and 30-day readmissions for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction with cardiorenal syndrome: A National Cohort Study.

Background: Literature regarding outcomes of cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) among heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is limited.
Objective: To study the clinical outcomes and 30-day readmission rates of CRS patients with HFrEF.
Methods: Data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD) that constitutes 49.1% of the stratified sample of all hospitals in the United States (US), representing >95% of the national population, was analyzed for the CRS with HFrEF visits from 2018 to 2019. CRS was defined by the ICD-10 codes.
Results: Out of the 1,530,749 index CRS-related hospitalizations (mean age:64.37 ± 13.30 years; 38.6%females) 73,126 (6.0%) CKD I-II, 883,119 (72.6%) CKD III-IV, and 258,835 (21.3%) CKD V-and-more related encounters were recorded. Mortality was higher among CKD stage V-and-more in comparison to other subgroups(7.6%vs5.73%;p < 0.001). AKI with underlying CKD was more common among stage III-IV compared to other subgroups (55.9%vs43.7%;p < 0.001). Respiratory failure, the second major complication, was more common among stage V-and-more compared to other subgroups (32.5%vs30%;p < 0.001). The overall CRS-related 30-day readmission rate was 22.7%, with CKD V-and-more accounting for highest rates(29.89%), followed by CKD stage III-IV(20.05%) and CKD I-II(12.99%). The primary etiology for 30-day readmission was cardiovascular among all subgroups (54.2%, 54.6%, and 41.80%, which corresponds to CKD I-II, CKD III-IV and CKD V-and-more, respectively).
Conclusion: CRS among HFrEF accounts for substantial healthcare burden with high 30-day readmission rates. Higher all-cause mortality and 30-day readmissions were associated with worse renal disease. This would suggest that more vigilance is needed by physicians for discharge planning among this patient population.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)