Abdominal Obesity Is Associated With an Increased Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Patients With HFpEF

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of studies that evaluate the association between abdominal obesity and subsequent outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to assess the association between abdominal obesity and risk of all-cause mortality in patients with HFpEF. METHODS: The present study used data from the TOPCAT (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist) trial. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. We analyzed and compared the hazard ratios (HRs) in patients with abdominal obesity and those without abdominal obesity using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. Abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference of ≥102 cm in men and ≥88 cm in women. RESULTS: The present study included 3,310 patients with HFpEF: 2,413 patients with abdominal obesity and 897 without abdominal obesity. The mean follow-up was 3.4 ± 1.7 years. During follow-up, 500 patients died. All-cause mortality rates in patients with and without abdominal obesity were 46.1 and 40.7 events per 1,000 person-years, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, the risk of all-cause mortality was significantly higher in patients with abdominal obesity than in those without abdominal obesity (adjusted HR: 1.52; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.16 to 1.99; p = 0.002). The risk of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality was also significantly higher in patients with abdominal obesity than in those without abdominal obesity (adjusted HR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.08 to 2.08; p = 0.01 and adjusted HR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.00 to 2.51; p = 0.04, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of all-cause mortality was significantly higher in patients with HFpEF with abdominal obesity than in those without abdominal obesity.