Fluid Restriction in Patients With Heart Failure

Overview

There is a concept increasingly consolidated by clinical evidence that at each hospitalization due to HF decompensation there is a substantial loss of quality of life, which is associated with an initial period of great clinical vulnerability, with high rates of rehospitalization and an increased risk of death. The non-pharmacological measures that are widely practiced and recommended for HF patients, such as fluid restriction, specially at the first 30 days after hospital discharge, still lack clearer evidence of their therapeutic efficacy.

The need for hospitalization is an important marker of poor prognosis in patients with heart failure. It is estimated that 25% of patients presenting with acute heart failure are readmitted within 30 days. The maintenance of signs and symptoms of congestion at hospital discharge are common causes of hospital readmission. Thus, the reduction of these signs is a goal to be reached during hospitalization so that the chances of readmission are reduced. However, there is evidence that approximately ¼ of the patients are released despite persisting signs of congestive symptoms. It seems plausible to speculate that patients with HF at higher risk of rehospitalization would be those with the greatest chance of benefiting from therapeutic strategies that seek to reduce the congestive state, such as fluid restriction. In this scenario of initial vulnerability after hospitalization for acutely decompensated HF, recent studies have demonstrated a correlation in the number of B lines in the pulmonary ultrasound of patients at the time of hospital discharge and the prediction of frequent clinical outcomes. It was observed that the presence of pattern B, defined as the presence of more than 3 B lines in at least 2 pulmonary fields bilaterally, was associated with a worse prognosis (mortality from all causes and hospitalization due to decompensation). The present study, therefore, will evaluate the effect of outpatient fluid restriction on levels of NT-proBNP in patients who remain with signs of congestion based on pulmonary ultrasound at the bedside during hospital discharge.