Epidemiologic surveillance on quality of life in patients with systolic heart failure after treatment with the selective heart rate inhibitor ivabradine

Background: Patients with systolic heart failure (HF) frequently have symptoms despite receiving standard treatment. The addition of the selective heart rate inhibitor ivabradine has been shown to improve their quality of life (QOL) in randomized trials but not under day-to-day practice conditions. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess changes in QOL after the addition of ivabradine to the standard treatment of patients with systolic HF, in daily clinical practice. Patients and Methods: In a multicenter surveillance protocol, patients with a diagnosis of systolic HF who were prospectively prescribed ivabradine 5–7.5 mg twice a day for 60 days were selected for surveillance on their QOL. Primary data on demographic and clinical characteristics, together with a change in QOL assessed by a visual analog scale, during a 60-day follow-up, were extracted for analysis from the case records of patients kept with the investigators. Results: In 594 patients with systolic HF who received ivabradine in addition to standard treatment for 60 days, intention to treat analysts showed that 465 (78.3%, 95% confidence interval (CI), 74.7–81.4) had improvement in QOL. The mean (95% CI) QOL score increased by 37.0% (35.1–39.1). Conclusion: These results confirm the observations of previous randomized trials that in day-to-day clinical practice, patients with systolic HF benefit from an improvement in QOL when ivabradine is added to their standard treatment.