Evaluation of the relationship between iron deficiency and central aortic stiffness in patients with heart failure

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome that is common in the world and its mortality is similar to the deadliest malignancies. In addition to providing significant improvements in mortality rates with effective medical and device treatments on mortality, treatments that alleviate symptoms are becoming increasingly important. One of the most important of these treatments is the treatment of iron deficiency. Important clinical outcomes such as improvement in symptoms, increase in functional capacity, increase in walking distance, and decrease in hospitalization rates with intravenous iron preparations have been proven by studies. In our study, we examined the effects of intravenous iron therapy on aortic stiffness as a possible mechanism for improving clinical outcomes. 29 patients without iron deficiency and 57 patients with iron deficiency were included in the study. In the patient group with iron deficiency, the decision for intravenous iron therapy was made by independent clinicians. Basal and 3rd month aortic stiffness parameters of the patients were measured with the SphygmoCor device. In our study, it was observed that PWV was significantly higher in patients with iron deficiency compared to patients without iron deficiency (6.79±2.03 vs. 7.54±1.93, p=0.049). A significant difference was observed between the baseline and 3rd month PWV changes of the groups with iron deficiency who were given iron treatment and those who were not given iron treatment (7.56±2.12 / 6.92±1.42 vs. 7.60±2.19 / 8.11±1.85, p=0.009). Key Words: Aortic stiffness, Pulse wave velocity, Iron deficiency, Heart failure