Relation of systolic blood pressure to survival in both ischemic and nonischemic systolic heart failure.

High systolic blood pressure (SBP) is a predictor of survival for patients with heart failure (HF). Whether SBP predicts survival in both ischemic and nonischemic HF has not been well examined. We analyzed 2,178 patients with advanced HF (47.3% ischemic etiology, 75.5% men, 93.5% New York Heart Association class III or IV, age 52 +/- 13, left ventricular ejection fraction 24 +/- 9%) referred to a university center between 1983 and 2006. SBP and invasive hemodynamic variables were recorded after optimization of medical therapy. Patients were divided into SBP quartiles (<or=90, 91 to 100, 101 to 112, >or=113 mm Hg) based on SBP frequency. Survival free from death or urgent transplant in ischemic versus nonischemic HF was 53.2% versus 61.1% at 2 years. Higher SBP quartile was associated with increased survival in the total cohort and in subgroups of both nonischemic and ischemic HF. On multivariate analysis adjusting for age, left ventricular ejection fraction, cholesterol, gender, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, cardiac index, New York Heart Association class, beta-blocker use, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker use, statin use, and smoking history, relative risk (95% confidence interval) of death or urgent transplant at 2 years for quartile 1 compared with quartile 4 was 1.9 (1.4 to 2.6) in the total cohort, 1.6 (1.1 to 2.5) in nonischemic HF, and 2.4 (1.5 to 3.7) in ischemic HF. In conclusion, SBP predicts HF survival in both ischemic and nonischemic HF independent of other risk factors and invasive hemodynamic variables.