BACKGROUND

Chronic heart failure is a symptomatic, progressive disease characterised by frequent hospitalisations and impaired quality of life. Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection (HFpEF) is less well characterised than Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) and until recently there were no approved treatments for HFpEF. Patients with HFpEF tend to be older, with more comorbidities, compared to HFrEF. The preferences of patients for treatment attributes specific to HFpEF are poorly understood.

OBJECTIVES

To understand and quantify preferences of HFpEF patients for different attributes of treatment. An exploratory objective was to understand the value of treating HFpEF versus common co-morbidities (diabetes, atrial fibrillation and hypertension).

METHODS

A patient preference study was undertaken consisting of qualitative telephone interviews followed by an online self-explicated conjoint questionnaire. Patients from USA and Germany (n = 8) were included for the qualitative phase; the quantitative phase only included US patients (n = 40). Adult HFpEF patients were recruited, with HFpEF defined as left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50%.

RESULTS :

Improvement in survival, followed by alleviation of symptoms and avoidance of unplanned hospitalisations, were the most important treatment attributes. Avoidance of side effects and ease of administration were viewed as less important. There was no significant difference in importance between different symptoms. Compared with comorbidities, HFpEF was viewed as the most disliked disease/ most important to treat.

CONCLUSIONS

Quantitative phase results are only available for the US sample, limiting the conclusions that can be drawn. Nevertheless, these results indicate the importance of improving life expectancy, alleviating symptoms and avoiding hospitalisations, to HFpEF patients. The study also found that HFpEF was rated as having a greater impact on patients’ lives than other comorbidities of diabetes, atrial fibrillation and hypertension. These results help provide context to results from clinical trials and to inform future clinical trial design in HFpEF.