Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension is common among patients with heart failure (HF). Right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) is frequently used to assess its presence and severity. Although RVSP has been associated with adverse outcomes, the importance of serial measurements has not been studied. We evaluated associations between serial RVSP measurements and cardiovascular events in patients with HF. METHODS: Patients with HF and 2 echocardiograms performed ≥ 6 months apart were included. RVSP was categorized, using the second echocardiogram, as follows: normal (< 40 mm Hg); severely elevated (≥ 60 mm Hg); moderately elevated (50-59 mm Hg); or mildly elevated (40-49 mm Hg). Patients also were classified according to change in RVSP categories between echocardiograms. The primary outcome was time to HF hospitalization (HFH) or all-cause mortality (ACM) after the second echocardiogram. RESULTS: In total, 4319 patients were included (median age: 78 years; 52.1% female). During a median follow-up period of 19.4 months, HFH/ACM occurred in 2714 patients (62.8%). In multivariable analysis, baseline RSVP that was mildly elevated (1069 patients, hazard ratio [HR] 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.54), moderately elevated (797 patients, HR 1.54, 95% CI 1.30-1.82), or severely elevated (837 patients, HR 1.92, 95% CI 1.60-2.31) was independently associated with HFH/ACM. Additionally, improving RVSP was associated with increased HFH/ACM in both categorical (HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01-1.33) and continuous analyses. CONCLUSIONS: RVSP measurements identify patients at increased risk who may require more-aggressive monitoring and medical therapy. Our study raises the hypothesis that, in addition to the absolute value of RVSP, improving RVSP category may identify higher-risk patients, but further study is needed to elucidate the underlying reasons.