The impact of various clinical variables on long-term survival of patients with acutely decompensated diastolic heart failure (DHF) compared to systolic heart failure (SHF) has not been sufficiently investigated.

Clinical, laboratory, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic data were collected and analyzed for all-cause mortality in 473 furosemide-treated patients aged ≥60 years, hospitalized for acutely decompensated HF.

Diastolic heart failure patients (n = 183) were more likely to be older, female, hypertensive, obese, with shorter preexisting HF duration, atrial fibrillation, lower New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, lower maintenance furosemide dosages, and to receive calcium antagonists. The SHF group (290 patients) demonstrated prevailing coronary artery disease, nitrate or digoxin treatment, and electrocardiographic conduction disturbances (P ≤ 0.01 in all comparisons). On median 35-month follow-up, the respective one-, three- and five-year survival rates were 82%, 48% and 33% in DHF versus 74%, 46% and 30% in SHF (P = 0.3). Higher furosemide daily dosage at discharge (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.11–1.37, P < 0.001), increasing age (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.09–1.54, P = 0.003), peripheral arterial disease (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.02–2.13, P = 0.043), and a history of stroke (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.98–2.1, P = 0.066) were most significantly associated with shorter survival in SHF. DHF, in turn, demonstrated higher NYHA class (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.48–4.29, P < 0.001), history of non-advanced malignancy (OR = 2.51, 95% CI = 1.3–4.85, P = 0.012), and atrial fibrillation (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 0.97–2.64, P = 0.066). Antilipid treatment (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.3–1.02, P = 0.049) predicted better survival.

In-patients with acutely decompensated DHF differ from similar SHF subjects with respect to prognostic significance of a number of clinical variables. This observation might carry practical implications.