Long-term outcomes for heart failure patients with and without diabetes: From the Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure Registry

Background: Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly prevalent condition among heart failure (HF) patients. The long-term morbidity and mortality among patients with and without diabetes with HF with reduced (HFrEF), borderline (HFbEF), and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are not well described. Methods: Using the Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)–HF Registry linked to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services claims data, we evaluated differences between HF patients with and without diabetes. Adjusted Cox proportional-hazard models controlling for patient and hospital characteristics were used to evaluate mortality and readmission outcomes. Results: A cohort of 86,659 HF patients aged ≥65 years was followed for 3 years from discharge. Unadjusted all-cause mortality was between 4.4% and 5.5% and all-cause hospitalization was between 19.4% and 22.6% for all groups at 30 days. For all-cause mortality at 3 years from hospital discharge, diabetes was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.27 (95% CI 1.07-1.49, P =.0051) for HFrEF, 0.95 (95% CI 0.55-1.65, P =.8536) for HFbEF, 1.02 (95% CI 0.87-1.19, P =.8551) for HFpEF. For all-cause readmission, diabetes was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.06 (95% CI 0.87-1.29, P =.5585) for HFrEF, 1.48 (95% CI 1.15-1.90, P =.0023) for HFbEF, and 1.06 (95% CI 0.91-1.22, P =.4747) for HFpEF. Conclusions: HFrEF and HFbEF patients with diabetes are at increased risk for mortality and rehospitalization after hospitalization for HF, independent of other patient and hospital characteristics. Among HFpEF patients, diabetes does not appear to be independently associated with significant additional risks.