Long-term medical treatment and adherence in patients with left ventricular assist devices: a Danish nationwide cohort study
Authors: Schjoedt I , Mols R E , Eiskjaer H , Bakos I , Horvath-Puho E , Gustafsson F , Kristensen S L , Larsson J E , Loegstrup B B 
Published: July 2023

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Grant from Karen Elise Jensen Foundation and Helse Foundation.

Introduction

An increasing number of patients with advanced heart failure (HF) live with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Data regarding medical treatment after LVAD implantation is sparse, including the impact of socioeconomic factors and multimorbidity.

Purpose

To describe medication use and assess the influence of socioeconomic factors and multimorbidity on medication use in the first two years following LVAD implant.

Methods

We conducted a nationwide cohort study based on data from the Danish clinical LVAD databases, the Scandiatransplant Database, and Danish nationwide administrative and medical registries. We identified patients with LVAD implantation between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2018, who were discharged with LVAD therapy. Patients were followed until heart transplantation, LVAD explant, death, or December 31, 2018. Medication use was defined as a redeemed prescription from the Danish National Prescription Registry using ATC codes. Socioeconomic factors included cohabitation status, highest education attained, employment status, and personal income. Multimorbidity was defined as two or more chronic conditions. Medical treatment 90 days before LVAD implant and 720 days post-LVAD were assessed using descriptive statistics in 90 days intervals.

Results

We identified 119 patients; 88.2% were male, and the mean age (standard deviation) was 52.6 (14.5) years. The median (IQR) follow-up time was 0.8 years (0.4;1.8 years). 44.5% of patients underwent heart transplantation, and 4.2% had the LVAD explanted during follow-up. 27.7% of the patients were living alone, 27.7% had a low educational level, 37.8% were unemployed, 15.1% were in the lowest income (25 percentile), and 16.8% were categorized with multimorbidity (without cardiovascular disease group). The proportion of medication users of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (88.7%), beta-blocker (67%), mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (62.9%), warfarin (87.6%), and aspirin (55.7%) within 90 days post-LVAD were substantially higher than pre-LVAD and were stable during the follow-up (Figure 1). In contrast, the proportion of diuretic users was lower post-LVAD implant than pre-LVAD, decreased further, and plateaued up to 180 days after hospital discharge. Stratified analyses according to socioeconomic factors and multimorbidity showed no differences in medication use (Figure 2).

Conclusions

Guideline-derived medical therapies for HF increased after LVAD implantation and were stable during long-term follow-up. As expected, the proportion of warfarin users increased substantially after LVAD implantation. Surprisingly, the percentage of aspirin users was not at the same level as for warfarin users. Socioeconomic factors and comorbidity burden did not influence long-term medication use of guideline-derived HF therapies, warfarin and aspirin in LVAD recipients.