Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the patients
| All patients (n=2193) | LVEF ≤40% (n=157) | LVEF >40%, ≤50% (n=244) | LVEF >50% (n=1792) | |
| Age (years) (median (range)) | 73 (40–104) | 77 (41–97) | 77 (41–95) | 72* (40–104) |
| Sex (male) | 41 | 57 | 52 | 38* |
| History of hypertension | 26 | 32 | 31 | 24 |
| History of IHD | 23 | 56 | 39* | 18* |
| History of lung disease | 19 | 24 | 18 | 19 |
| Smoker | 42 | 35 | 37 | 44* |
| Diabetes | 12 | 17 | 15 | 11 |
| Any symptoms or signs of CHF | 43 | 74 | 53* | 39* |
| NT-proBNP (median) (pmol/l) (range) | 110 (0–12464) | 860 (21–12464) | 280* (5–7637) | 81* (0–5903) |
Values are % unless indicated.
*p < 0.05 v the group of patients with an LVEF of ≤ 40%.
CHF, chronic heart failure; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; NT-proBNP, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide.