Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) is a cytokine and marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Less is known about HGF and incident heart failure (HF). We examined the association of HGF with incident HF and its subtypes in a multi-ethnic cohort.
We included 6,597 participants of the MESA cohort, free of clinical CVD and HF at baseline, with HGF measured at baseline. Incident hospitalized HF was assessed and adjudicated for HF with preserved ejection fracture (HFpEF) versus HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Cox regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for HF risk by HGF levels, adjusted for socio-demographics, CVD risk factors and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide.
Mean (SD) for age was 62 (10) yrs. Median (IQR) for HGF level was 950 pg/mL (758-1086); 53% were women. Over 14 (IQR, 11.5-14.7) years, there were 324 cases of HF (133 HFpEF and 157 HFrEF). For the highest HGF tertile compared to lowest, adjusted HRs were 1.59 (95% CI: 1.10, 2.31), 1.90 (1.03, 3.51), and 1.09 (0.65, 1.82) for overall HF, HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively. For continuous analysis per 1 SD log-transformed HGF, adjusted HRs were 1.22 (1.06, 1.41), 1.35 (1.09, 1.69), and 1.00 (0.81, 1.24) for HF, HFpEF, and HFrEF, respectively.
HGF was independently associated with incident HF. HGF remained significantly associated with HFpEF but not HFrEF upon subtype assessment. Future studies should examine mechanisms underlying these associations and evaluate whether HGF can be used to improve HF risk prediction or direct therapy.

Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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