Impact of COPD and Asthma on In-hospital Mortality and Management of Patients with Heart Failure in England and Wales: an Observational Analysis

Objective: To evaluate the association between having concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma, and in-patient mortality and post-discharge management among patients hospitalised for acute heart failure (HF).

Setting: Data were obtained from patients enrolled in the National Heart Failure Audit.

Participants: 217 329 patients hospitalised for HF in England-Wales between March 2012 and 2018.

Outcomes: In-hospital mortality, referrals to cardiology follow-up and prescriptions for HF medications were compared between patients with comorbid COPD (COPD-HF) or asthma (asthma-HF) versus HF-alone using mixed-effects logistic regression.

Results: Patients with COPD-HF were more likely to die during hospitalisation, and those with asthma-HF had a reduced likelihood of death, compared with patients who had HF-alone ((adjusted)OR, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.06 to 1.14 and OR, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.79 to 0.88). In patients who survived to discharge, referral to HF follow-up services differed between groups: patients with COPD-HF had reduced odds of cardiology follow-up (OR, 95% CI 0.79, 0.77 to 0.81), while cardiology referral odds for asthma-HF were similar to HF-alone. Overall, proportions of HF medication prescriptions at discharge were low for both COPD-HF and asthma-HF groups, particularly prescriptions for beta-blockers.

Conclusions: In this nationwide analysis, we showed that COPD and asthma significantly impact the clinical course in patients hospitalised for HF. COPD is associated with higher in-patient mortality and lower cardiology referral odds, while COPD and asthma are both associated with lower use of prognostic HF therapies on discharge. These data highlight therapeutic gaps and a need for better integration of cardiopulmonary services to improve healthcare provision for patients with HF and coexisting respiratory disease.