Medical therapy for patients with recent-onset heart failure with reduced ejection fraction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the Veteran's affairs healthcare system.

Sandhu AT, Zheng J, Tisdale RL, Kohsaka S, Turakhia MP, Heidenreich PA. Medical therapy for patients with recent-onset heart failure with reduced ejection fraction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the Veteran's affairs healthcare system. American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice. 2022 Oct 1; 22(.):100210.

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Abstract:

This study aims to evaluate trends in guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for patients with recent-onset heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic using an interrupted time series analysis in the Veteran's Affairs Healthcare System. Among 71,428 patients with recent-onset HFrEF between 1/1/2018 and 2/28/2021, we found the pandemic was not associated with differences in treatment rates for beta-blockers, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists; there was a 2.6 % absolute decrease (95 % CI: 0.5 %-4.7 %) in ARNI rates in April 2020; which decreased over the pandemic. Despite the changes to healthcare delivery, the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with minimal changes in GDMT rates among patients with recent-onset HFrEF.