New risk factors predictive of mortality from acute heart failure

Introduction: Heart failure is a potentially fatal entity. Possible predictors of mortality from heart failure have been explored to improve prognosis.Objective: Identify the prognostic factors of mortality due to acute heart failureMethod: A case-control study nested in a cohort of patients with acute heart failure admitted to the emergency room of the “Saturnino Lora” Provincial Clinical-Surgical Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, from September 2020 to September 2021. The condition of the heart was established as a dependent variable patient and as independent the hypothetical clinical, hematological and echocardiographic prognostic factors. The relative risk (RR), the confidence interval (CI) and the chi-square test were determined to identify the prognostic factors that were associated with mortality. Results: Galloping through S3 or S4 [RR 5.636; (1.835-17.309); p=0.001], New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class IV [RR 31.429; (6.537-151.108);p<0.001], supplemental oxygen [RR 7.327;(2.689-19.968);p<0.001], cardiogenic shock [RR 16.000;(3.346-76.516);p<0.001],malignant ventricular arrhythmia (tachycardia ventricular- ventricular fibrillation) [RR 2.250 ;( 1.562-3.242);p<0.001] showed a very significant statistical association with mortality.Conclusions: The presence of gallop and malignant arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, the need for supplemental oxygen and functional class are adequate predictors of mortality due to acute heart failure, useful to stratify patients and improve prognosis.