Blood Pressure in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

For patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), guidelines recommend a systolic blood pressure (SBP) goal of <130 mm Hg (NEJM JW Cardiol Sep 2017 and Circulation 2017; 136:e137). To examine whether this threshold is appropriate, researchers examined data from a registry of patients hospitalized with heart failure (OPTIMIZE-HF). Drawing from the subgroup of patients with HFpEF and histories of hypertension, 1979 patients with discharge SBP ≥130 mm Hg were compared with 1979 patients whose discharge SBP was <130. These two cohorts were closely matched on numerous potentially confounding variables, according to propensity scoring.

At 1 month, 12 months, and 6 years, researchers found no significant differences between t…