The ability of modern therapy to improve the prognosis of patients with HF: role of angiotensin neprilysin inhibitors and sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors

Major principles for treatment of chronic heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction <40% (HFrEF) include a “triple neurohormonal blockade” as a main approach. However, in recent 6 years, two new classes of drugs for the treatment of HFrEF have appeared, which beneficially influence the prognosis. These drugs are angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI) and type 2 sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.
Aim    To compare the net effect of simultaneous treatment with ARNI and SGLT2 inhibitors with the triple neurohormonal blockade in stable or decompensated patients with CHF based on Russian data.
Material and methods    We analyzed the risk of death per 100 patient-years in patients with HFrEF. Stable patients were followed up at the A.L. Myasnikov Institute of Cardiology (presently, A.L. Myasnikov Research Institute of Clinical Cardiology of the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology) from 2006 through 2007; data from the EPOCH-Decompensation-CHF study were used for decompensated patients (12.2 % and 36.8 %, respectively).
Results    When patients with stable HFrEF were successively switched from renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors to ARNI (–16 %) and subsequently supplemented with SGLT2 (–13 %) the risk of death per 100 patient-years decreased from 12.2 % to 8.9 % (total risk decreased by 27 %; to save one patient the ARNI+ SGLT2 combination has to be prescribed to 30 patients). The estimated risk of death upon discharge from the hospital for the patients with decompensated CHF switched from RAAS inhibitors to ARNI (–16 %) and subsequently supplemented with SGLT2 (–13 %) was 26.9 deaths per 100 patient-years, whereas the number of patients to be treated for saving one life was only 10. Based on available data that demonstrate a greater effect of ARNI+ SGLT2 in patients immediately after CHF aggravation, the risk of death was recalculated. According to this analysis, the death rate per 1000 patient-years decreased from 36.8 to 19.9 % (relative risk decrease, 46 %), and to save one life only 6 patients had to be treated after they have achieved compensation of HFrEF.
Conclusions    This analysis shows the importance of early initiation of the ARNI+ SGLT2 therapy in patients with both decompensated and with stable HFrEF.

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