RESEARCH ARTICLE
Beta-blockers Associated with a Mortality Benefit in Patients with Systolic Dysfunction and Elevated Serum Bilirubin
Christopher Labos*, Vivian Nguyen, Nadia Giannetti , Thao Huynh
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 76
Last Page: 82
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-8-76
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401408010076
Article History:
Received Date: 4/3/2014Revision Received Date: 24/6/2014
Acceptance Date: 28/6/2014
Electronic publication date: 15 /9/2014
Collection year: 2014
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
Hyperbilirubinemia is associated with increased mortality in heart failure (HF) patients. We evaluated the impact of evidence-based medical therapy, in particular beta-blocker on the survival of patients with HF and hyperbilirubinemia.
Methods and Results:
We reviewed the charts of all patients followed at our tertiary care heart failure clinic. Hyperbilirubinemia was defined as total bilirubin >30 µmol/L (1.5 times the upper limit of our laboratory value). The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. The secondary endpoint was a composite of death, cardiac transplant or ventricular assistance device implantation (VAD). Of 1035 HF patients, 121 patients (11.7%) had hyperbilirubinemia. Median follow-up was 556 days. Hyperbilirubinemia was associated with an eight-fold increase in all-cause mortality, hazard ratio (HR): 8.78[95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 5.89-13.06]. Beta-blocker use was associated with approximately 60% reduction in all-cause mortality (HR: 0.38, 95% CI:0.15-0.94) and 70% reduction in the composite secondary endpoint (HR:0.31, 95% CI:0.13-0.71) in patients with hyperbilirubinemia.
Conclusion:
HF patients with hyperbilirubinemia have increased early mortality, need for cardiac transplantation or VAD. Beta-blocker use was associated with early survival benefit in these patients. Bilirubin levels should be monitored in patients with HF and early initiation of beta-blockers in patients with hyperbilirubinemia should be considered.
