Use of short‐acting vs. long‐acting loop diuretics after heart failure hospitalization

Abstract

Aims

Furosemide, a short‐acting loop diuretic (SD), is the dominant agent prescribed for heart failure (HF) in clinical practice. However, accumulating data suggests that long‐acting loop diuretics (LD), such as torsemide or azosemide, might have more favourable pharmacological profiles. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the type of loop diuretics and long‐term outcomes among patients hospitalized for acute HF enrolled in a contemporary multicentre registry.

Methods and results

Within the West Tokyo Heart Failure Registry from 2006 to 2017, a total of 2680 patients (60.1% men with a median age of 77 years) were analysed. The patients were characterized by the type of diuretics used at the time of discharge; 2073 (77.4%) used SD, and 607 (22.6%) used LD. The primary endpoint was composite of all‐cause death or HF re‐admission after discharge, and the secondary endpoints were all‐cause death and HF re‐admission, respectively. During the median follow‐up period of 2.1 years, 639 patients died [n = 519 (25.0%) in the SD group; n = 120 (19.8%) in the LD group], and 868 patients were readmitted for HF [n = 697 (33.6%) in the SD group; n = 171 (28.2%) in the LD group]. After multivariable adjustment, the LD group had lower risk for the composite outcome [hazard ratio (HR), 0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.66–0.96; P = 0.017], including all‐cause death (HR; 0.73; 95% CI; 0.54–0.99; P = 0.044) and HF re‐admission (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.66–0.99; P = 0.038), than the SD group. Propensity score matching yielded estimates that were consistent with those of the multivariable analyses, with sub‐group analyses demonstrating that use of LD was associated with favourable outcomes predominantly in younger patients with reduced ejection fraction.

Conclusions

LD was associated with lower risk of long‐term outcomes in patients with HF and a recent episode of acute decompensation.