Separham A, et al. - This study investigated the impact of vitamin D on response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with heart failure (HF). Findings demonstrated that in patients with systolic HF who underwent CRT implantation, there was a significant role of adequate serum concentrations of vitamin D in improving the post-implantation functional status.

Methods

• Prospectively enrolled, 50 patients (30 men and 20 women) with HF undergoing CRT implantation were included in this study.
• Response to CRT was defined as a combination of ≥15% reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) and ≥10% improvement in the 6-Minute Walk Test within 6 months.
• Based on the levels of vitamin D prior to CRT implantation, patients were divided into groups.
• Furthermore, prior to and 6 months after the procedure, clinical and echocardiographic examinations were performed.

Results

• Findings demonstrated that among overall study participants, 11 (22%) failed to respond to CRT; 2 patients died within 6 months and an additional 9 patients exhibited no improvement in the 6-Minute Walk Test and no reduction in their baseline LVESV.
• 25 patients with sufficient levels of vitamin D were compared with 25 patients with insufficient levels.
• Data also showed that 9 patients (36%) in the “insufficient” group and 2 patients (8%) in the “sufficient” group failed to respond to CRT implantation (p = 0.037).