A secondary analysis of the EMPULSE trial provides more context to the quality-of-life (QoL) benefits of the early initiation of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor empagliflozin (Jardiance; Boehringer Ingelheim/Eli Lilly) in patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure.

The main results of EMPULSE showed that starting empagliflozin a median of 3 days after hospitalization led to better survival, fewer hospitalizations, and greater improvements in QoL—all of which made up the primary composite endpoint of total clinical benefit. Although the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in chronic HF were well established already, many leading clinical trialists had been advocating for the medications to be started as soon as hospitalized patients are stable, but without the data to back up that recommendation until EMPULSE.

The new prespecified analysis, presented here at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2022 Scientific Session by Mikhail N. Kosiborod, MD (Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, MO), and simultaneously published in Circulation, dove deeper into how trial patients reported feeling on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ). The empagliflozin patients reported greater improvement across a broad range of health status outcomes as early as 15 days after administration of the drug compared with those on placebo.

Read the full TCTMD article: Quality of Life Gains Within 15 Days in Acute Heart Failure with Empagliflozin: EMPULSE Analysis