Pseudonormal mitral filling pattern predicts hospital re-admission in patients with congestive heart failure

Objectives We sought to investigate whether pseudonormal (PN) filling was associated with death or hospital admission in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Background The high mortality rate associated with CHF is related to many clinical and echocardiographic variables. In particular, a short mitral deceleration time and restrictive diastolic filling predict death and/or hospital admission. We hypothesized that differentiating patients with nonrestrictive filling might identify an intermediate PN group that may be associated with intermediate risk. Methods A total of 115 patients admitted to the hospital for exacerbation of CHF symptoms underwent pre-discharge Doppler echocardiography to determine mitral inflow (before and after preload reduction) and pulmonary venous return. Patients were followed up for one year, and all-cause mortality and re-admission data were analyzed. Results The classification of filling patterns was: abnormal relaxation (AR) in 46 (40%) patients, pseudonormal (PN) filling in 42 (36.5%) patients and restrictive filling pattern (RFP) in 27 (23.4%) patients. When comparing the RFP group with the AR group, all-cause mortality was higher (38.4% vs. 17.4%, P = 0.033), hospital admission was higher (70.3% vs. 54.3%, P = 0.073), death/hospital admission was higher (77.8% vs. 56.5%, P = 0.02), CHF hospital admission was higher (40.7% vs. 15.2%, P = 0.01) and death/CHF hospital admission was higher (62.9% vs. 26.1%, P = 0.0005). Mortality in the PN group was not significantly different from that in the two other groups, but re-admissions were higher than the AR group (76.2% vs. 54.3%, P = 0.006), as was death/re-admission (78.6% vs. 56.5%, P = 0.004) and death/CHF re-admission (47.6% vs. 26.1%, P = 0.03). Re-admissions in the PN and RFP groups were comparable. Conclusions In a general hospital population of older patients with CHF, PN filling was associated with hospital admission rates similar to those seen with restrictive filling. The combined end point of death/CHF hospital admission was similar for restrictive filling and AR. Measurement of these variables is easy to add to routine clinical echocardiography and may provide important prognostic information in a wide range of patients with CHF.