New research led by UC Health cardiologists shows that while short-term worsening kidney function is frequent among patients with heart failure, these patients also have better outcomes than those who have persistent kidney failure.
These findings, published in the July 2010 edition of the Journal of Cardiac Failure, could lead to more effective interventions and treatments for patients with heart failure that develop kidney problems or failure as well.
"Worsening renal function is a warning complication in patients with acute heart failure syndrome," says Andrew Burger, MD, UC Health cardiologist and co-investigator in the study. "Between 30 and 50 percent of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure have further worsening of renal function during hospitalization, but there is very little data available about the clinical implication of transient versus persistent worsening of renal function in this setting.
"This study is the first of its kind to look at this relationship to help physicians assess outcomes and possibly determine the most efficient way to treat heart patients who develop kidney failure at any degree."
Researchers studied 467 patients with acute heart failure syndrome and their creatinine measurements on days 2, 5, 14 and 30 of the study.
Creatinine is a product of creatine phosphate, or energy phosphate, in the muscle and brain. It is filtered out of the blood by the kidneys. If the filtering of the kidney is deficient, blood levels rise, and creatinine levels in blood and urine are used to calculate the kidney's function.
In this study, worsening renal function was defined as persistent when serum creatinine remained greater than 0.5 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) above baseline throughout to day 30 and transient when the elevated creatinine levels decreased to less than 0.5 mg/dL above baseline within the 30-day period.