Staging Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is considered a systemic condition in which the prevalence of cardiovascular, metabolic, pulmonary and renal conditions determine the extent of cardiac involvement. Numerous attempts have been made to phenotype HFpEF, but patients still lack a clinically and/or prognostically relevant approach. Progressive cardiac deterioration in HFpEF appears to be associated with a worse prognosis. However, no attempt has been made to classify the extent of cardiac involvement in HFpEF. Investigators proposed the concept of HFpEF staging according to the extent of cardiac involvement identified by transthoracic echocardiography: Stage 1: isolated left ventricular involvement; Stage 2: left atrial myopathy; Stage 3: pulmonary vasculature involvement; and Stage 4: right chambers involvement. The study aims to investigate the associations between the proposed stages and clinical outcomes in HFpEF patients.