Not much is known about the effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) on echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular (LV) systolic function in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We prospectively included 59 outpatients with HFrEF: 41 patients received SGLT2i with OMT (SGLT2i+ group), whereas eighteen patients received OMT without SGLT2i (SGLT2i− group). Myocardial work index (MWI), 3D ejection fraction (3D LVEF), and global longitudinal strain (GLS) were measured at baseline and after 3 months following treatment. At 3-month follow-up, the SGLT2i+ group showed significantly greater improvement in MWI than the SGLT2i− group. In both groups, there was a significant improvement in 3D LVEF and LV GLS, circulating NT-proBNP levels, and NYHA functional class, with significantly greater improvement in the SGLT2i+ group. In conclusion, the addition of SGLT2i to fully optimized background medical therapy resulted in a greater improvement of LV systolic function among outpatients with HFrEF. Graphical abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12265-023-10389-3.

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Background Kidney transplant recipients (KTR) are a group of patients with heterogeneous risks for adverse outcomes with COVID-19, but risk stratification tools in this patient group are lacking. Methods and participants This retrospective observational, hypothesis-generating study included 49 hospitalized adult KTR patients with COVID-19 at the University Hospital of Split (August 2020 to October 2021) and evaluated the performance of novel risk score CROW-65 (age, Charlson Comorbidity Index [CCI] lactate dehydrogenase to white blood cell [LDH:WBC] ratio, and respiratory rate oxygenation [ROX index]).The primary outcome of the study was 30-day postdischarge all-cause mortality. Results A total of 8 fatal events (16.3%) occurred during the study follow-up. When comparing CROW-65 by survival status, it was significantly increased in patients with fatal event (P < 0.001). Using the Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the CROW-65 risk score showed statistically significant association with mortality (HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.01-1.23, P = 0.027), while receiving operator characteristics (ROC) showed significant discrimination of all-cause mortality with an AUC of 0.85 (95% CI 0.72-0.94, P < 0.001), and satisfactory calibration (χ 2 4.91, P = 0.555 and Harrell's C Availability of data and materials The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Josipa Domjanović and Andrija Matetic contributed equally to the research as joint first authors. All authors take responsibility for all aspects of the reliability and freedom from bias of the data presented and their interpretation.

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