Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a widespread unmet need for translational research and clinical management

Article Collection published

Guest edited by: Prof Junjie Xiao

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a systemic complex clinical syndrome of heart failure generally associated with old age. Despite having normal or near normal ejection fraction (EF) and stroke volume, patients with HFpEF show high morbidity and mortality, as well as a frequent hospitalization rate. Given that current standard pharmacological treatment for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has not been proven to be effective for HFpEF, the prognosis and life quality of patients with HFpEF are unfortunately poor.

HFpEF is usually associated with factors such as old age, female gender, systolic hypertension, and diabetes. Given the heterogeneity of HFpEF, studies for the pathophysiology and molecular mechanism of HFpEF are urgently needed. However, animal models of HFpEF are for instance not widely employed at present. Meanwhile, substantial therapeutic targets for HFpEF needs to be explored in specific human patient subgroups, such as aging-, diabetic cardiomyopathy-, and metabolic and hypertensive stress-related HFpEF. Deciphering the complexity mechanism of HFpEF will promote our understanding of HFpEF and identify novel therapeutic targets and strategies for HFpEF. Translational, and clinical research are urgently needed to improve clinical diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with HFpEF.

In this collection, BMC Medicine includes articles providing a translational and clinical overview of the most recent findings on HFpEF and future perspectives. Areas covered include risk stratification, comorbid atrial fibrillation, reviews on animal models, the role of adipose tissue and insights into how dapagliflozin attenuates diabetes-induced diastolic dysfunction and cardiac fibrosis.