Heart failure & cardiomyopathies
Burst Steroid Therapy and Quality of Life in Patients with Acute Heart Failure: Insights from the CORTAHF Trial
Authors' conclusion
In patients with AHF and high hsCRP levels, 7 day burst steroid therapy improved QoL mostly by affecting the mobility and usual activities domains. QoL improvement was correlated with decongestion and may therefore not be a direct effect of steroid therapy, but mediated through improvement in HF symptoms and signs. Inflammatory activation was reduced by prednisone irrespective of baseline EQ-VAS.
Study context
- Population
- Patients hospitalized with acute heart failure (AHF) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) > 20 mg/L
- Participants
- 100 randomized patients
- Comparison
- Once-daily oral 40 mg prednisone for 7 days plus usual care or usual care alone
- Primary endpoint
- hsCRP change
- Follow-up
- Day 7
Methodological detailspilot trial, randomized 1:1
- Pilot trial
- Randomized 1:1
Further findings
| Outcome | Win odds (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| EQ-5D-5L mobility domain · Day 7 | 1.48 (1.05–2.12) | |
| EQ-5D-5L usual activities domain · Day 7 | 1.50 (1.05–2.20) | |
| 0.512Win odds (log scale) |
Treatment effect on 7 day hsCRP change by baseline EQ-VAS
- Treatment effect on 7 day hsCRP change was independent of baseline EQ-VAS
- Interaction P = 0.13
Correlation between decongestion and EQ-VAS improvement
- R
- −0.528
- P
- P < 0.0001
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Burst Steroid Therapy and Quality of Life in Patients with Acute Heart Failure: Insights from the CORTAHF Trial. ESC Heart Fail. Published 11 February 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →