Prognostic Value of Left Atrial Strain in Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a global health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Recently, the association between peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) and clinical outcomes of HF has gained increasing attention. Our aim was to systematically assess the prognostic value of PALS for adverse events in HF.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were systematically searched from inception to 30 April 2022. Studies in which PALS was assessed to predict adverse outcomes in adult patients with HF were included. Study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction were performed independently by two authors. The primary endpoints were all-cause death and cardiac hospitalization.

Results: Among 7,787 patients in 17 included studies, 3,029 (38.9%) experienced the primary endpoint. Patients with events had lower PALS than those without events [weighted mean difference (WMD) 6.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.09-9.26, < 0.001]. Each unit increment of PALS was independently associated with decreased risk for the primary endpoint [hazard ratio (HR) 0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.98, < 0.001]. The addition of PALS significantly improved the predictive power of conventional risk models [net reclassification index (NRI) 0.22, 95% CI 0.06-0.39, = 0.008].

Conclusion: Peak atrial longitudinal strain was an independent predictor for all-cause mortality and cardiac hospitalization in patients with HF, highlighting the clinical importance of left atrial (LA) deformation in the prognosis of HF.

Systematic Review Registration: [www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/], identifier [CRD42020185034].