Contemporary Epidemiology, Management, and Outcomes of Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure in China: Results From the China Heart Failure (China-HF) Registry

Background Contemporary data on the epidemiology of heart failure (HF) in China are scarce. The China-HF Registry was designed to investigate clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of patients hospitalized for HF in China. Methods and Results Data were collected prospectively on 13,687 patients with a primary discharge diagnosis of HF who were enrolled from 132 participating hospitals from January 2012 to September 2015. Data from the China-HF Registry was compared with previously published literature. The mean age was 65 ± 15 years, 59.1% were male, and 36.0% had preserved ejection fraction. Age, body mass index, and systolic blood pressure were lower than in high-income countries. Common comorbidities included hypertension (50.9%), coronary heart disease (49.6%), and atrial fibrillation (24.4%). The overall use of diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB), and β-blockers at admission was 30.1%, 27.0%, and 25.6%, respectively, which was lower than in other registries. For patients discharged alive, ACEI/ARB, β-blocker, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist use in patients with reduced ejection fraction was 67.5%, 70.0%, and 74.1%, respectively; device use was much lower. The median length of hospital stay was 10 (range 7–15) days, and in-hospital mortality was 4.1 ± 0.3%. Predictors of mortality included low systolic blood pressure, acute myocardial infarction, infection, right bundle branch block, and elevated total bilirubin and blood urea nitrogen level. Conclusions Several important findings in patient profile and treatment patterns among Chinese patients with HF were noted compared with published literature. These data underscore the need for regional characterization of HF for global clinical trials and for the identification of several quality improvement opportunities.