Kinoshita M, et al. - This study assessed the impacts of early administration of tolvaptan (TLV) in very elderly patients who underwent repeat hospitalizations for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) despite receiving optimal medical therapy. Findings revealed that TLV when administered early in these patients, resulted in immediate decongestion and attenuated the hospitalization period with a lower incidence of worsening renal function.

Methods

• Researchers retrospectively enrolled in this study a total of 56 ADHF patients who were >80 years old and had been repeatedly hospitalized.
• 25 patients (14 men; mean age 86.7 ± 5.3 years; control group) received standard therapy and 31 patients (15 men; mean age 85.5 ± 4.5 years; TLV group) received oral TLV within 24 h of admission.

Results

• Findings demonstrated that the rate of worsening renal function was significantly lower in the TLV group than in the control group (13 vs. 40%, P < 0.05).
• Researchers observed that the duration of the return to body weight at a steady state was significantly shorter in the TLV group (5.3 ± 2.8 days) than in the control group (13.9 ± 9.2 days, P < 0.01).
• Consequently, it was noted that the hospitalization period in the TLV group (13.5 ± 5.9 days) was significantly shorter than that in the control group (24.7 ± 12.3 days, P < 0.01).