Association of Reduced Hospitalizations and Mortality Rates Among COVID-19-Vaccinated Patients With Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: Patients with heart failure (HF) are at high risk for adverse outcomes when they have COVID-19. Reports of COVID-19 vaccine-related cardiac complications may contribute to vaccine hesitancy in patients with HF. METHODS: To analyze the impact of COVID-19 vaccine status on clinical outcomes in patients with HF, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of the association of COVID-19 vaccination status with hospitalizations, intensive care unit admission and mortality after adjustment for covariates. Inverse probability treatment-weighted models were used to adjust for potential confounding. RESULTS: Of 7094 patients with HF, 645 (9.1%) were partially vaccinated, 2200 (31.0%) were fully vaccinated, 1053 were vaccine-boosted (14.8%), and 3196 remained unvaccinated (45.1%) by January 2022. The mean age was 73.3 ± 14.5 years, and 48% were female. Lower mortality rates were observed in patients who were vaccine-boosted, followed by those who were fully vaccinated; they experienced lower mortality rates (HR 0.33; CI 0.23, 0.48) and 0.36 (CI 0.30, 0.43), respectively, compared to unvaccinated individuals (P< 0.001) over the mean follow-up time of 276.5 ± 104.9 days, whereas no difference was observed between those who were unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 vaccination was associated with significant reduction in all-cause hospitalization rates and mortality rates, lending further evidence to support the importance of vaccination implementation in the high-risk population of patients living with HF.