BACKGROUND European and American guidelines for the placement of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT D) in patients with heart failure (HF) remain unchanged despite controversy and ongoing debate on the etiology of HF. However, there are limited data on the long term follow up in patients who received primary defibrillator therapy with regard to ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). The prognostic significance of the etiology of HF is not well established. AIMS The aim of the study was to assess the predictive value of the cause of HF. METHODS A total of 1073 patients with the first implantation of ICD / CRT D between January 2009 and December 2013 from the COMMIT HF (Contemporary Modalities In Treatment of Heart Failure) registry were selected for the study. Patients were divided into 2 groups depending on the etiology of HF: ischemic (n = 705; 65.7%) and nonischemic (n = 368; 34.3%). The primary endpoint was long term all cause mortality. RESULTS The median follow up was 60.5 months. The primary endpoint occurred more often in the ICM as compared with the NICM group (35.7% vs 26.6%; P = 0.008). A higher out of hospital mortality in patients with ICM tended to be statistically significant (15.5% vs 10.6; P = 0.05). The multivariate analysis revealed that, among others, an ischemic etiology of HF was an independent factor of long term mortality (hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.30-1.81; P = 0.003). Other independent predictors for mortality are: age older than 65 years, impaired left ventricular ejection fraction, chronic kidney disease, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSIONS In the real world population, significantly worse survival of patients with ICM in comparison with those with NICM is observed, and an ischemic etiology of HF is a strong independent predictor of mortality among individuals following the placement of ICD / CRTD.
KEY WORDSheart failure, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, ischemic heart disease, nonischemic cardiomyopathy, prognostic factor