On 30 september 2021, J.C. van den Berge will defend his PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Heart Failure Outcomes’.
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Thursday 30 Sep 2021, 10:30 - 12:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Senate Hall
- Building
- Erasmus Building
- Location
- Campus Woudestein
This thesis describes different outcome measures in patients with heart failure (HF), including short- and long-term prognosis, mortality over time, left ventricular remodeling and patient-reported outcomes. We studied the impact of changes in HF therapy on prognosis and left ventricular remodeling. No improvement in short-term prognosis was found in patients with acute HF while the long-term prognosis improved only modestly. Furthermore, it was observed that significant left ventricular remodeling was present in patients with de novo acute HF who were treated with optimal medical treatment.
Furthermore, we investigated determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in different types of patients with acute HF. We studied determinants of HRQoL in HF patients with and without non-cardiac comorbidities. Several determinants were found in patients with comorbidities and hardly any determinant in those without comorbidities. Also, depression in patients with HF was found to be associated with higher symptom occurrence and symptom burden.
Lastly, we studied incident HF prediction models and sex-related differences in developing diastolic dysfunction. The ACC/AHA model was found to be a reasonable prediction model to predict incident HF in both men and women. Furthermore, the age-related change in parameters of diastolic dysfunction were found to be comparable in both sexes. However, risk factors for changes in diastolic dysfunction differed between men and women. Smoking and lower HDL cholesterol levels were the main risk factors for worse left ventricular diastolic function over time among women, whereas the presence of diabetes and higher body mass index were risk factors in men.
The public defence will take place at the Senate Hall, 1st floor Erasmus Building, location campus Woudestein. The ceremony will begin exactly at 10.30 AM. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.
