Nonischemic heart failure (HF) is common in Japan. We evaluated the long-term outcome of Japanese patients with nonischemic HF receiving carvedilol based on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) category. We conducted a single-center observation study of 1550 patients with nonischemic HF who were initiated with carvedilol between 2005 and 2015. Of these patients, 38% had an LVEF < 40% (HFrEF, median age 57 years, 28% female) and 62% had an LVEF ≥ 40% (HFpEF, 64 years, 38% female). The primary outcome was all-cause.death The secondary outcomes were cardiac death and sudden cardiac death (SCD). After a median follow-up of 5.5 [interquartile range, 2.9-8.8] years, the median daily maintenance doses of carvedilol in patients with HFrEF and HFpEF were 7.5 [5-12.5] mg and 7.5 [5-10] mg, respectively. The cumulative survival rates of HFrEF patients at 1, 3 and 5 years were 96.1%, 90.2% and 85.5%, respectively, and the cumulative survival rates of HFpEF patients at 1, 3 and 5 years were 97.8%, 94.4% and 90.7%, respectively. The cumulative cardiac death-free rates at 5 years were 94.4% in HFrEF patients and 97.7% in HFpEF patients, and the cumulative SCD-free rates at 5 years were 96.7% in HFrEF patients and 97.9% in HFpEF patients. The adjusted survival rate showed that a higher dose (≥ 7.5 mg daily) was associated with more favourable outcomes than a lower dose (< 7.5 mg daily) in HFrEF patients, but not in HFpEF patients. The adjusted survival rate showed that a lower heart rate (< 75 bpm) was associated with favourable outcomes than a higher heart rate (≥ 75 bpm) in HFrEF patients, but not in HFpEF patients. Long-term survival was good in Japanese patients with nonischemic HF receiving carvedilol. Higher doses and lower heart rates were associated with favourable survival for HFrEF patients, but not in HFpEF patients.
Keywords: Carvedilol; Heart failure; Japanese; Nonischemic; Survival.