Abstract 13670: Prevalence and Long-Term Outcomes of Intravenous Iron Sucrose Therapy in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Single Institution Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Iron deficiency (ID) is prevalent in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) defined as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 40%. Most trials used in the 2022 AHA/ACC guidelines studied iron carboxymaltose; most had a short follow-up and evaluated heart failure readmissions. We explored the prevalence of iron use, long-term therapeutic benefits, and impact on all-cause readmission for patients with HFrEF.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed electronic medical record data from a university hospital from 2016 to 2021 with an ICD-10 code of systolic heart failure (LVEF < 50%) and ID, or iron deficiency anemia (IDA) (n=619). Intravenous (IV) iron sucrose group was matched to a control group (n = 43) by propensity score matching for age and sex. Conditional logistic regression was utilized to estimate unadjusted odds ratios (uOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI), while Mann-Whitney test was utilized to compare median values of nonparametric estimates. Statistical analysis was done in SAS version 9.4.

Results: 66.7% of the studied population were male and 61.1% were ≥ 65 years. The common comorbid conditions were ischemic cardiomyopathy (39.6%), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (26.2%), and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding (12.3%). ID was present in 115 (18.6%); IDA in 95 (15.4%) and 43 (6.9%) received IV iron sucrose. IV iron administration was significantly associated with LVEF 41-49% (uOR = 2.65, 95% CI: 1.10 - 6.43), GI bleeding (uOR = 16.00, 95% CI: 2.12 - 120.65), chronic kidney disease (uOR = 3.67, 95% CI: 1.49 - 9.04), iron deficiency (uOR = 26.00, 95% CI: 3.53 - 191.60]) and iron deficiency anemia (uOR = 24.00, 95% CI: 3.23 - 177.41). LVEF ≤40% was non-significantly associated with all-cause mortality (uOR = 1.50, 95% CI: 0.61 - 3.67). The IV iron group had a higher median rate of 6-year readmissions (8 [IQR:8] vs.1 [2]; p<0.001), and blood transfusions (11 [24] vs. 3.5 [2]; p=0.05).

Conclusions: Patients with HFrEF were less likely to receive IV iron sucrose and more likely to die. Those with frequent blood transfusions, GI hemorrhage, and CKD were more likely to receive IV iron. The study indicates the impact of disease severity and comorbidities on management. Larger studies are needed to investigate this postulation.