Data unclear for heart failure outcomes in US versus Canada

(HealthDay)—Evidence for the difference in outcomes for heart failure patients in Canada versus the United States differs depending on the source of the data, according to research published in the December issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure.

Padma Kaul, Ph.D., of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and colleagues examined data from the Acute Study of Clinical Effectiveness of Nesiritide in Decompensated Heart Failure (ASCEND-HF) trial and population-based cohorts to assess the inter-country differences in outcomes of patients with heart failure.

The researchers found that Canadian patients enrolled in the randomized trial were older, more likely to be white, and had lower body weights and lower blood pressures than U.S. patients. Trial results showed that Canadian patients had significantly lower baseline-adjusted odds of 30-day mortality (odds ratio, 0.46) and better health-related quality of life than U.S. patients. In contrast, population-based data showed that U.S. patients had significantly lower unadjusted in-hospital mortality than Canadian patients (3.4 versus 11.1 percent).

"Evidence on inter-country differences in outcomes of patients hospitalized with heart failure in Canada and the United States remains equivocal," the authors write.

Scios Inc. funded the ASCEND-HF study.