The Canadian Heart Failure (CAN-HF) Registry: A Canadian Multicentre, Retrospective Study of Outpatients with Heart Failure

Abstract

Background

Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) reduces events in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Despite this impact, underutilization of GDMT persists. This report sought to describe HF management in Canadian outpatients treated at specialized HF clinics (HFCs).

Methods

The Canadian Heart Failure (CAN-HF) study was retrospective and observational, and it included 1775 patients from 6 Canadian outpatient HFCs, from the period January 2017-April 2020.

Results

We observed improvement in prescription rates in patients with HFrEF, between their first visit and their most-recent clinic visit, across all GDMT classes, in those who were followed at the HFC for ≥ 6 months. The largest prescription rate increases were observed for angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitors and mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonists. However, more than half of the patients remained on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and/or angiotensin-receptor blockers, despite being symptomatic, according to their New York Heart Association class. Most patients (50%) were on triple therapy, as of their most-recent visit, with fewer (36%) on dual therapy, monotherapy (13%), or no GDMT (2%). Our data also suggest that patients who had been managed at the HFC for > 6 months had higher prescription rates of GDMT and were on higher doses of GDMT, compared to those who were new to the clinic. For patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction, few patients were on candesartan and less than half were on a mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonist.

Conclusions

Our data from HFCs that in most cases were affiliated with academic centres compare favourably with data from other analyses of ambulatory patients with HFrEF, evidence that supports the use of a specialized patient-care model.