Iron Deficiency in Heart Failure and Effect of Dapagliflozin: Findings from DAPA-HF

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Final published version, 1.01 MB, PDF document

  • the DAPA-HF Investigators and Committees

Background: Iron deficiency is common in heart failure and associated with worse outcomes. We examined the prevalence and consequences of iron deficiency in the DAPA-HF trial (Dapagliflozin and Prevention of Adverse-Outcomes in Heart Failure) and the effect of dapagliflozin on markers of iron metabolism. We also analyzed the effect of dapagliflozin on outcomes, according to iron status at baseline. Methods: Iron deficiency was defined as a ferritin level <100 ng/mL or a transferrin saturation <20% and a ferritin level 100 to 299 ng/mL. Additional biomarkers of iron metabolism, including soluble transferrin receptor, erythropoietin, and hepcidin were measured at baseline and 12 months after randomization. The primary outcome was a composite of worsening heart failure (hospitalization or urgent visit requiring intravenous therapy) or cardiovascular death. Results: Of the 4744 patients randomized in DAPA-HF, 3009 had ferritin and transferrin saturation measurements available at baseline, and 1314 of these participants (43.7%) were iron deficient. The rate of the primary outcome was higher in patients with iron deficiency (16.6 per 100 person-years) compared with those without (10.4 per 100 person-years; P<0.0001). The effect of dapagliflozin on the primary outcome was consistent in iron-deficient compared with iron-replete patients (hazard ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.58-0.92] versus 0.81 [95% CI, 0.63-1.03]; P-interaction=0.59). Similar findings were observed for cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalization, and all-cause mortality. Transferrin saturation, ferritin, and hepcidin were reduced and total iron-binding capacity and soluble transferrin receptor increased with dapagliflozin compared with placebo. Conclusions: Iron deficiency was common in DAPA-HF and associated with worse outcomes. Dapagliflozin appeared to increase iron use but improved outcomes, irrespective of iron status at baseline.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCirculation
Volume146
Issue number13
Pages (from-to)980-994
ISSN0009-7322
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The DAPA-HF trial was funded by AstraZeneca. Dr McMurray is supported by a British Heart Foundation Center of Research Excellence grant (RE/18/6/34217).

    Research areas

  • anemia, erythropoiesis, ferritin, heart failure, hepcidin, iron, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, transferrin

ID: 326669711