Waist to height ratio is associated with an increased risk of mortality in Chinese patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

BACKGROUND: Abdominal obesity as a predominant comorbidity has played a key role in the incidence and worsening of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) behaves better than waist circumference or body mass index in evaluating abdominal obesity. While the association between WHtR and all-cause death in Chinese patients with HFpEF remains unclear. METHODS: Patients with stable HFpEF (N = 2041) who presented to our hospital from January 2008 to July 2019 were divided into low-WHtR (< 0.5, N = 378) and high-WHtR (≥ 0.5, N = 1663). Multivariable Cox proportional-hazard models were used to examine the association of WHtR with all-cause death. RESULTS: The average age was 76.63 ± 11.44 years, and the mean follow-up was 4.53 years. During follow-up, 185 patients (9.06%) reached the primary outcome of all-cause death. As for the secondary outcome, 79 patients (3.87%) experienced cardiovascular death, 106 (5.19%) had non-cardiovascular death, and 94 (4.61%) had heart failure rehospitalization. After multivariable adjustment, a higher WHtR was significantly associated with the increased risks of all-cause death [adjusted hazard ratios (HR) 1.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–3.45, p = 0.032], cardiovascular death (adjusted HR 2.58; 95% CI 1.01–6.67, p = 0.048), and HF rehospitalization (adjusted HR 3.04; 95% CI 1.26–7.31, p = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Higher WHtR is an independent risk factor for all-cause death in Chinese patients with HFpEF. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12872-021-02080-9.