Arrhythmia Burden and Clinical Responses Under Continuous Monitoring in Heart Failure: Observations From the ALLEVIATE-HF Trial

Background

Heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart cannot pump blood as effectively as the body needs. Many patients with heart failure also experience abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, slow heart rhythms, or dangerous fast rhythms from the ventricles. These rhythm problems can worsen symptoms, lead to hospitalizations, and sometimes require procedures such as pacemaker or defibrillator implantation, medication changes, or ablation.

Despite this importance, the true arrhythmia burden in ambulatory patients with symptomatic heart failure who do not already have a cardiac implantable electronic device is not well defined. A related question is whether a device-guided congestion-management strategy, designed to help clinicians respond earlier to fluid overload, can also influence how often arrhythmias occur.