Health-related quality of life and prognosis in cardiac sarcoidosis

Abstract Background Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is characterized by inflammatory myocardial disease, often leading to conduction disturbances, ventricular tachycardias, and heart failure. While factors like initial symptoms, LVEF, and troponin levels are known prognostic indicators, the impact of CS on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is not well-understood. Additionally, limited data exists on the predictive value of FDG-PET in CS. Purpose This study aimed to assess HRQoL in CS patients and investigate its prognostic relevance concerning cardiac events. Methods Patients diagnosed with CS completed the RAND-36 general health-related questionnaire, covering eight dimensions. Clinical data were obtained from the Finnish myocardial inflammatory diseases registry. Follow-up data on cardiac events, including life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT/VF), heart transplant, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, pericardial tamponade, or death, were collected over 36 months. Results Of the 240 CS patients surveyed, 179 (75%) were female, with a median age of 56 [IQR 48 – 64]. CS patients reported significantly lower RAND-36 scores across all dimensions compared to the general Finnish population. Over the 3-year follow-up, 38 (16%) patients experienced cardiac-related adverse events, including VT/VF (26 cases), deaths (8 cases), heart transplants (2 cases), LVAD implantation (1 case), and pericardial tamponade (1 case). We divided CS patients into those without adverse event (N=202) and with adverse events (N=38). Interestingly, in four dimensions of PF 70.0 [50.0-90.0] vs 60.0 [33.8-80.0], p=0.019, RP 50.0 [0.0-100.0] vs 0.00 [0-56.3], p=0.002, MH 76.0 [59.0-88.0] vs 66.0 [51.0-84.0], p=0.036, and SF 75.0 [50-100] vs 62.5 [37.5-78.1], p=0.037 were significantly lower scores in the event group. Univariate Cox regression analysis (Table 1) revealed that physical functioning (PF) and role-physical (RP) dimensions, along with certain clinical factors, such as younger age, higher NYHA classification, elevated proBNP levels, lower hemoglobin levels, and the main manifestation of the disease as ventricular tachyarrhythmia, independently predicted adverse cardiac events. In the multivariate analysis, lower role-physical scores and younger age remained independent prognostic factors for adverse cardiac events. Conclusions Patients with CS demonstrated lower HRQoL compared to the general Finnish population. This study enhances our understanding of prognosis in CS and underscores the predictive value of HRQoL in identifying future adverse cardiac events, highlighting its relevance in the clinical management of these patients.