Comorbid Conditions and Health-Related Quality of Life in Ambulatory Heart Failure Patients
Contributor: Ike Chinyere

Study Link: Comorbid Conditions and Health-Related Quality of Life in Ambulatory Heart Failure Patients
VITALITY-HFPEF is a trial underway which will evaluate the efficacy of vericiguat in HFpEF patients by using the KCCQ-PLS (Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Physical Limitation Score) as a primary endpoint. The choice of this primary endpoint will make it the first HF trial utilizing a quality of life, patient-reported outcome (PRO) as a primary endpoint. There remains a need for medications which improve mortality and functional status for patients with HFpEF. An ongoing area of research involves the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway.
Does an increased NT-proBNP in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and HFpEF correspond to a higher risk for worse outcomes? Kristensen et al suggest increased NTproBNP levels do not show the same correlation with poor outcomes in patients with AF compared with those without AF. NT-proBNP is increased in AF patients independently from heart failure, therefore, its capacity to predict cardiovascular death or hospitalizations in HFpEF may be diminished.