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Observational Study
. 2025 Mar 11;20(1):27.
doi: 10.5334/gh.1418. eCollection 2025.

Characterization of 2,500 Patients with Heart Failure and Analysis of Their Optimal Medical Therapy: Insights from the AMERICCAASS Registry

Alex David Sotomayor-Julio  1   2   3 , Sebastián Seni-Molina  2 , Juliana María Gutiérrez-Posso  2 , Juan Andrés Muñoz-Ordoñez  3 , Valeria Azcárate-Rodríguez  3 , Hoover O León-Giraldo  2   3 , Eduardo R Perna  4 , Víctor Rossel  5   6 , Daniel Quesada-Chaves  7 , Mario Speranza  8 , Mark H Drazner  9 , Walter Alarco  10 , Alexander Romero-Guerra  11 , Gabriel Frago  11 , Daniela García Brasca  12 , Álvaro Mauricio Quintero-Ossa  13 , Javier Galeano Figueredo  14 , Milton Lubeck Herrera  15 , Antonella A Ferrer  16 , Ruddy Miguel García-Safadit  17 , Freddy Pow-Chon-Long  18 , Felix Nunura Arrese  19 , Kwame van der Hilst  20 , Silvia Carolina Lazo-Majano  21 , Elisabeth Ashley Hardin  22 , Orlando David Fernández-Flores  23 , Gabriela Ormaechea-Gorricho  24 , Luis Felipe Anhuaman-Atoche  25 , Annia María Carrero-Vásquez  26 , Andrés Ulate Retana  27 , Pablo Hurtado Nuñez  28 , Emilio Samael Peralta-López  29   30 , Juan Esteban Gómez-Mesa  1   2   3 ; AMERICCAASS Research Group
Affiliations
Observational Study

Characterization of 2,500 Patients with Heart Failure and Analysis of Their Optimal Medical Therapy: Insights from the AMERICCAASS Registry

Alex David Sotomayor-Julio et al. Glob Heart. .

Abstract

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality worldwide, emphasizing the critical role of optimal medical therapy (OMT) in improving patient outcomes. Despite extensive research, most scientific evidence regarding HF is gathered and studied in developed countries, leaving substantial knowledge gaps regarding HF in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Objective: To characterize the sociodemographic and clinical profiles of HF patients and to assess their adherence to OMT in the Americas.

Methods: The AMERICCAASS Registry is a prospective, observational, multicenter study, including patients aged 18 and older, both hospitalized and ambulatory, and diagnosed with HF. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from the first 2,500 patients to characterize the study population. Adherence to OMT was subsequently evaluated according to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).

Results: Among the 2,500 patients in the study, 36% were hospitalized and 64% were ambulatory. The median ages of the patients were 66.9 (hospitalized) and 66.3 years (ambulatory). Males made up 60.8% of hospitalized and 59.3% of ambulatory patients. The majority had HF with reduced LVEF (≤40%): 60.7% for hospitalized and 58.5% for ambulatory. The New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II predominated among ambulatory patients (67.9%), while NYHA functional class III predominated among hospitalized patients (46.6%). Only 21% of patients with reduced LVEF were receiving quadruple therapy, whereas 12.3% of patients with mildly reduced LVEF (41-49%) were on this treatment.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that the sociodemographic and clinical profiles of HF patients in the Americas are broadly consistent with international reports. However, the low use of OMT observed in this population underscores gaps in adherence to current guidelines. These results highlight the need for targeted strategies to improve pharmacological treatment adherence to optimize health outcomes in this region.

Keywords: Americas; Heart failure; characterization; optimal medical therapy; registries.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Distribution and sociodemographic characteristics of the patients
Figure 1
Distribution and sociodemographic characteristics of the patients.
Graphical Abstract: A graphical summary of the study design and key findings
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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