TABLE 1.
Demographic characteristics and initial therapy of the study population (n=1240)
| Sex | |
| Female | 799 (64) |
| Male | 441 (36) |
| Age, years | 60±15 |
| BMI, kg·m−2 | 27±6 |
| Comorbidities | |
| Obesity | 361 (29) |
| Hypertension | 537 (43) |
| Diabetes | 277 (22) |
| Coronary heart disease | 122 (10) |
| DLCO <45% predicted | 378 (30) |
| Atrial fibrillation | 115 (9) |
| Renal insufficiency | 88 (7) |
| H2FPEF score >5 | 25 (2) |
| PAH aetiology | |
| Idiopathic | 561 (45) |
| Heritable | 104 (8) |
| Drugs | 123 (10) |
| Connective tissue disease | 398 (32) |
| HIV | 45 (4) |
| Corrected congenital heart disease | 9 (1) |
| No therapy initiated within first 3 months | 53 (4) |
| Monotherapy | 649 (52) |
| ERA | 367 (29.5) |
| PDE5i | 272 (22) |
| Inhaled PGI2 | 1 (0) |
| i.v./s.c. PGI2 | 9 (0.5) |
| Dual therapy | 480 (39) |
| ERA+PDE5i | 460 (37) |
| PDE5i+selexipag | 2 (0) |
| Oral therapy+inhaled PGI2 | 3 (0.5) |
| Oral therapy+i.v./s.c. PGI2 | 15 (1.5) |
| Triple therapy | 58 (5) |
| ERA+PDE5i+selexipag | 6 (1) |
| ERA+PDE5i+inhaled PGI2 | 1 (0) |
| ERA+PDE5i+i.v./s.c. PGI2 | 51 (4) |
Data are presented as n (%) or mean±sd. BMI: body mass index; DLCO: diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide; H2FPEF: scoring system for diagnosing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension; ERA: endothelin receptor antagonist; PDE5i: phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor; PGI2: prostacyclin; i.v.: intravenous; s.c.: subcutaneous.