Concurrent ICDs placement renders primary prevention among HF patients, reveals research

The study findings were as follows:

• A total of 25,296 patients met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 2,118 (8.4%) received an ICD within a year of indication.

• The treated group was younger (average age 63.4 years) compared to the non-treated group (average age 66.1 years) and had a smaller proportion of women (25.0% vs 36.7%).

• After adjusting for clinical characteristics through 4-to-1 propensity matching, the study employed a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of ICD treatment on mortality.

• Patients treated with an ICD had a 24.3% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who did not receive the device (HR: 0.757; 95% CI: 0.678-0.835; P < 0.001).

• There was no significant difference in ICD benefit between patients with ischemic and nonischemic heart disease (P = 0.50).

The absence of differential benefit between ischemic and nonischemic heart disease patients suggests a broad applicability of ICDs across different heart failure etiologies. ICD therapy for patients with a primary prevention indication is associated with a significant reduction in all-cause mortality.

Reference:

Ahmed, A., Auricchio, A., Mittal, S., Pickett, R. A., Wilkoff, B. L., Jacobsen, L. D., Marti, A. K., Holbrook, R. W., Soderlund, D. M., & Curtis, A. B. (2024). Mortality benefit among primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients on contemporary heart failure treatment. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology, 10(5), 916–926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacep.2024.102334