Male, Female V1421 Carriers Face Similar Risk for Heart Failure Hospitalization

Carriers face similar and substantial risk for heart failure hospitalization, mainly with reduced ejection fraction

THURSDAY, May 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Male and female V1421 carriers face a similar and substantial risk for heart failure hospitalization, according to a study published online May 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure 2024, held from May 11 to 14 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Noting that individual studies have indicated that the amyloidogenic V1421 variant of the transthyretin gene increases heart failure and mortality risk, Senthil Selvaraj, M.D., from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues examined the natural history of disease in carriers across mid to late life. Data were included for 23,338 self-reported Black participants initially free from heart failure; 3.2 percent were V1421 carriers.

The researchers found that 10-year carrier risk increased for heart failure hospitalization by 63 years of age, which was mainly driven by heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; the 10-year all-cause mortality risk increased by 72 years of age. Risk with the variant was only modified by age, but not sex or other select variables, with estimated reductions in longevity varying from 1.9 to 2.8 years at ages 50 and 81 years, respectively. Based on these data, due to the variant, 435,851 estimated U.S. Black carriers between ages 50 and 95 years were projected to cumulatively lose 957,505 years of life.

“Male and female V1421 carriers faced similar and substantial risk for HF hospitalization, predominantly with reduced ejection fraction, and all-cause death later in life, with steep age-dependent penetrance,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.