Comparative symptom biochemistry between moderate and advanced heart failure

Background
We have a limited understanding of the biological underpinnings of symptoms in heart failure (HF).

Objectives
The purpose of this paper was to compare relationships between peripheral biomarkers of HF pathogenesis and physical symptoms between patients with advanced versus moderate HF.

Methods
This was a two-stage phenotype sampling cohort study wherein we examined patients with advanced HF undergoing ventricular assist device implantation in the first stage, and then patients with moderate HF (matched adults with HF not requiring device implantation) in the second stage. Linear modeling was used to compare relationships among biomarkers and physical symptoms between cohorts.

Results
Worse myocardial stress, systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction were associated with worse physical symptoms in moderate HF (n=48), but less physical symptom burden in advanced HF (n=48).

Conclusions
Where patients are in the HF trajectory needs to be taken into consideration when exploring biological underpinnings of physical HF symptoms.