Association Between Coronary Artery Disease Testing in Patients with New-Onset Heart Failure and Heart Failure Readmission and Mortality.

Background: In patients with new-onset heart failure (HF), coronary artery disease (CAD) testing remains underutilized. Whether widespread CAD testing in patients with new-onset HF leads to improved outcomes remains to be determined.

Objective: We sought to examine whether CAD testing, and its timing, among patients hospitalized with new-onset HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), is associated with improved outcomes.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Adult (≥ 18 years) non-pregnant patients with new-onset HFrEF hospitalized within one of 15 Kaiser Permanente Southern California medical centers between 2016 and 2021. Key exclusion criteria included history of heart transplant, hospice, and a do-not-resuscitate order.

Main Measures: Primary outcome was a composite of HF readmission or all-cause mortality through end of follow-up on 12/31/2022.

Key Results: Among 2729 patients hospitalized with new-onset HFrEF, 1487 (54.5%) received CAD testing. The median age was 66 (56-76) years old, 1722 (63.1%) were male, and 1074 (39.4%) were White. After a median of 1.8 (0.6-3.4) years, the testing group had a reduced risk of HF readmission or all-cause mortality (aHR [95%CI], 0.71 [0.63-0.79]). These results were consistent across subgroups by history of atrial fibrillation, diabetes, renal disease, myocardial infarction, and elevated troponin during hospitalization. In a secondary analysis where CAD testing was further divided to early (received testing before discharge) and late testing (up to 90 days after discharge), there was no difference in late vs early testing (0.97 [0.81-1.16]).

Conclusions: In a contemporary and diverse cohort of patients hospitalized with new-onset HFrEF, CAD testing within 90 days of hospitalization was associated with a lower risk of HF readmission or all-cause mortality. Testing within 90 days after discharge was not associated with worse outcomes.