INTRODUCTION
Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with an increased
incidence of heart failure (HF) (1, 2). Only one study has examined the
relationship between SES and incident HF in primary care (3). Mortality
(4-6), first hospitalizations (1, 3), HF hospitalizations (5-9), and
readmissions (5, 6, 10) are higher in patients with low SES. Only one
study has been performed in the community (4), and only one study
defines risk separately in men and women (7). Previous studies have not
adjusted for covariates like, education, dependency, total wealth,
living status, marital status and occupational status, that are closely
related to SES and prognosis. SES is a time-varying exposure, but no
study so far has considered this in their analyses. Finally and most
important, studies including objective measures of cardiac dysfunction
have not been performed. Thus, the relationship between SES and the
prognosis of HF with reduced (HFrEF) vs. preserved (HFpEF) ejection
fraction remains uncertain.
To further analyze the association between SES and the prognosis of HF,
HFrEF vs. HFpEF, we put forward the present prospective propensity
matched study over 15 years on 9658 patients with incident HF.