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63 Systematic review of prognostic variables associated with mortality in adult patients with heart failure

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Publication date1/03/2020
Host publicationAccepted Oral and Poster Abstract Submissions, The Palliative Care Congress 1 Specialty: 3 Settings – home, hospice, hospital 19–20 March 2020 | Telford International Centre
PagesA30-A31
Volume10
EditionSuppl 1
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Publication series

NameBMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
PublisherBMJ Publishing Group Ltd
ISSN (Print)2045-435X

Abstract

Background Heart failure is a serious life limiting condition and patients can have a high symptom burden, reduced quality of life and increased unscheduled hospital admissions. Despite guidance advocating a palliative care approach in advanced heart failure, the variable disease trajectory leads to difficulty in predicting prognosis, which acts as a barrier to considering palliative care for these patients.Aims This systematic review explores which clinically relevant variables are associated with a poor prognosis in heart failure and examines if it is possible to determine which of these variables best predict mortality.Method Databases including conference abstracts and grey literature were searched using pre-defined terms. Screening of title and abstract, followed by full text review against inclusion criteria. Two reviewers extracted data from included studies and assessed Hayden risk of bias. Findings were subjected to narrative synthesis as meta-analysis was not possible.Results 29306 records were screened resulting in 37 included studies. There was a plethora of prognostic variables studied, including demographic, laboratory, electrocardiography, echocardiogram and clinical variables as well as studies that developed models from multiple variables. The primary variables were often only studied once, but even for the few that were investigated more than once, were adjusted for by different covariates and so could not be combined.Conclusions This systematic review failed to find clinically useful prognostic variables to identify patients in the last year of life. Although we identified a variety of proposed prognostic variables, these were explored in a single or in only a few studies, often in restricted populations meaning they cannot be generalised. Identifying good predictors of this phase of life is useful to facilitate advance care planning. Future prognostication research should concentrate on variables measured over time and studying real life populations more representative of patients with advanced heart failure and comorbidity.