The spectrum of comorbidities at the initial diagnosis of heart failure a case control study

The prognosis of heart failure (HF) patients is determined to a decisive extent by comorbidities. The present study investigates the association between a broad spectrum of diseases and the occurrence of HF in a large collective of outpatients. This retrospective case control study assessed the prevalence of 37 cardiac and extracardiac diseases in patients with an initial diagnosis of heart failure (ICD-10: I50) in 1,274 general practices in Germany between January 2005 and December 2019. The study is based on the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA), which contains drug prescriptions, diagnoses, and basic medical and demographic data. Patients with and without heart failure were matched by sex, age, and index year. Hazard regression models were conducted to evaluate the association between different disease entities and heart failure. The present study included 162,246 patients with heart failure and 162,246 patients without heart failure. Mean age [SD] was 73.7 [12.1] years; 52.6% were women. Out of 37 predefined diagnoses, 36 were more prevalent in HF patients. The highest prevalence was primary hypertension (63.4% in HF patients vs. 53.3% in controls, p < 0.001) followed by lipid metabolism disorders (34.6% in HF patients vs. 29.1% in HF patients p < 0.001) and diabetes mellitus type II (32.2% in HF patients vs. 25.2% in controls, p < 0.001). In the regression analysis, 19 diseases were significantly associated with heart failure. Non-cardiovascular diagnoses strongly associated with HF were obesity (HR = 1.46), chronic bronchitis and COPD (HR = 1.41), gout (HR: 1.41), and chronic kidney disease (HR = 1.27). In the present study, we identified a variety of cardiac and extracardiac diseases associated with heart failure. Our data underscore the immense importance of comorbidities, even as early as at the stage of initial diagnosis of heart failure.