NIH-Funded Study Finds Adults Hospitalized for Severe Infections Are Twice as Likely to Develop Heart Failure Later

A study funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that “adults who were hospitalized for a severe infection, such as respiratory infections or sepsis, were more than twice as likely to develop heart failure years later.”

The study followed “14,468 adults aged 45-64 for up to 31 years, from 1987 to 2018. None had heart failure when the study began. The researchers found that individuals who experienced an infection-related hospitalization had a 2.35 times higher risk of developing heart failure at an average time of seven years after surviving the hospitalization, compared to those who did not get an infection.”

The focus of the study was mainly on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Infections that required hospitalization were “associated with an increased risk of both conditions. Notably, the risk was nearly three times higher for HFpEF, the most common form of heart failure among people over age 65 and the one with the most limited treatment options. Nearly half of participants experienced an infection-related hospitalization emphasizing the potentially large impact of severe infections on the heart health of older adults.”

Ryan Demmer, the study’s senior author, said that “future research could build on the current findings by validating a causal link between infections and heart failure development. New research could also explore the potential for incorporating infection history into heart failure risk assessments and patient management strategies.”