IV ferric carboxymaltose reduces hospitalization in heart failure patients: AFFIRM-AHF trial

Delhi: Treatment with IV ferric carboxymaltose in heart failure patients diagnosed with iron deficiency is safe and reduces the risk of heart failure hospitalizations, show findings from the AFFIRM-AHF trial.

The findings from the study were presented at the virtual 2020 scientific sessions of the American Heart Association and also published in the journal Lancet.

Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose has been shown to improve quality of life and symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure and iron deficiency. Piotr Ponikowski, Wrocław Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland, and colleagues aimed to evaluate the effect of ferric carboxymaltose versus placebo on outcomes in patients stabilised after an episode of acute heart failure.

AFFIRM-AHF is a multicentre, double-blind, randomised trial performed across 121 sites in Singapore, South America, and Europe. It included 1132 patients of the 1525 patients screened. It included patients who were aged 18 years or above, hospitalized for heart failure with concomitant iron deficiency and had a left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 50%. 

They were randomly assigned in the ratio 1:1 to receive IV intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (n=558) or placebo (n=550) for up to 24 weeks dosed according to the extent of iron deficiency. The primary outcome was a composite of total hospitalisations for heart failure and cardiovascular death up to 52 weeks after randomisation, analysed in all patients who received at least one dose of study treatment and had at least one post-randomisation data point.