Systolic blood pressure at admission and long‐term clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized for heart failure

AIMS: The study sought to investigate the association between admission systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 1‐year clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) and in subgroups. METHODS: This study was based on the China Patient‐centred Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events Prospective Heart Failure Study, which prospectively enrolled patients hospitalized for HF in 52 hospitals from 20 provinces in China between August 2016 and May 2018. Patients were divided into four groups according to the quartiles of SBP at admission. The multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were fitted to examine the association between admission SBP and all‐cause death and HF readmission within 1 year after the index hospitalization. Restricted cubic splines were used to explore the non‐linear association between SBP and the clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Among 4896 patients, those with lower admission SBP were younger, more likely to be male, have left ventricular ejection fraction <40%, and receive β‐blockers, aldosterone antagonists, and diuretics. After adjustment for potential confounders, lower admission SBP was significantly associated with higher all‐cause death and there is no threshold, while we only observed such an association with HF readmission when admission SBP was lower than 120 mmHg. Compared with the 4th SBP quartile, patients in the 1st SBP quartile had higher risk of all‐cause death (hazard ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval 1.48–2.33; P < 0.001) and HF readmission (hazard ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval 1.19–1.65, P < 0.001). These associations were consistent in most subgroups, such as age, sex, and left ventricular ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS: In patients hospitalized for HF, lower admission SBP portends an increased risk of 1 year all‐cause death and HF readmission, and these associations were consistent among subgroups.