title: Heart Failure with Recovered Ejection Fraction in a Cohort of Elderly Patients with Chronic Heart Failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with heart failure (HF) who recover left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), termed here as 'Rec-HF', have a distinct clinical profile and prognosis compared with patients with HF and reduced LVEF (HF-REF) or HF and preserved LVEF (HF-PEF).
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated and classified patients from the Spanish Heart Failure Registry into three categories based on enrollment/follow-up echocardiograms: HF-PEF (LVEF ≥50%), HF-REF (LVEF persistently <50%) and Rec-HF (LVEF on enrollment <50% but normalized during follow-up).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1,202 patients were included, 1,094 with HF-PEF, 81 with HF-REF and 27 with Rec-HF. The three groups included patients of advanced age (mean age 75 years) with comorbidities. Rec-HF patients were younger, with a better functional status, lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus, dementia and cerebrovascular disease, and higher prevalence of COPD. The etiology of HF was more frequently ischemic and alcoholic and less frequently hypertensive. After a median follow-up of 367 days, the unadjusted hazard ratios for death in the Rec-HF versus HF-PEF and HF-REF groups were 0.11 (95% CI 0.02-080; p = 0.029) and 0.31 (95% CI 0.04-2.5; p = 0.274). Results were statistically nonsignificant in multivariate-adjusted models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rec-HF is also present in elderly patients with HF but it is necessary to further investigate the natural history and optimal pharmacologic management of this 'new HF syndrome'.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Service, Hospital d'Olot i Comarcal de la Garrotxa, Olot, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan Carles
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Trullàs
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manzano
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Formiga
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aramburu-Bodas
authors.forename: María Angustias
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Quesada-Simón
authors.forename: José Luís
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arias-Jiménez
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: García-Escrivá
authors.forename: Jorge Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Romero-Requena
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jordana-Comajuncosa
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montero-Pérez-Barquero
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004452:Echocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D013318:Stroke Volume; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left