Clinical characteristics, response to exercise training, and outcomes in patients with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Findings from Heart Failure and A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise TraiNing (HF-ACTION)

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics, exercise training response, β-blocker selectivity, and outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: We performed an analysis of HF-ACTION, which randomized 2,331 patients with HF having an ejection fraction of ≤35% to usual care with or without aerobic exercise training. We examined clinical characteristics and outcomes (mortality/hospitalization, mortality, cardiovascular [CV] mortality/CV hospitalization, and CV mortality/HF hospitalization) by physician-reported COPD status using adjusted Cox models and explored an interaction with exercise training. The interaction between β-blocker cardioselectivity and outcomes was investigated. Results: Of patients with COPD status documented (n = 2311), 11% (n = 249) had COPD. Patients with COPD were older, had more comorbidities, and had lower use of β-blockers compared with those without COPD. At baseline, patients with COPD had lower peak oxygen consumption and higher Ve/Vco₂ slope. During a median follow-up of 2.5 years, COPD was associated with increased mortality/hospitalization, mortality, and CV mortality/HF hospitalization. After multivariable adjustment, the risk of CV mortality/HF hospitalization remained increased (hazard ratio [HR] 1.46, 95% CI 1.14-1.87), whereas mortality/hospitalization (HR 1.15, 95% CI 0.96-1.37) and mortality (HR 1.33, 95% CI 0.99-1.76) were not significantly increased. There was no interaction between COPD and exercise training on outcomes or between COPD and β-blocker selectivity on mortality/ hospitalization (all P >.1). Conclusions: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with HF was associated with older age, more comorbidities, reduced exercise capacity, and increased CV mortality/HF hospitalization, but not a differential response to exercise training. β-Blocker selectivity was not associated with differences in outcome for patients with vs without COPD.