New onset heart failure (HF) is observed in up to 25% of patients with incident atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF). Current guidelines suggest that both conditions (AF \& HF) be addressed with guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) for HF and rate or rhythm control of AF. Hence, patients with both conditions are subjected to extensive polypharmacy with possible prognostic benefits, but also possible side effects, such as decreased renal function, dizziness, tiredness and hypotension, as well as the financial burden on both the individual patients and society, in addition to the stigma of having a HF diagnosis.
Guidelines do not inform how to manage long-term patients with HF, who following control of the incident tachycardia (e.g. AF), show full recovery from their HF condition.
This investigator-initiated, open-label, randomized, non-inferiority trial will test whether incremental weaning of GDMT in patients following full cardiac recovery and AF control is non-inferior compared to continuous GDMT with respect to the primary endpoint of freedom from heart failure deterioration. Furthermore, this study seeks to extensively phenotype these patients (genetic testing, advanced imaging, biomarkers etc.) in order to establish whether certain phenotypes are at lesser or greater risk of deterioration once remission is established. This novel approach of a personalized treatment regimen depending on e.g. genetic profiling could lead to an aggressive treatment in patients at high risk of deterioration and conversely spare patients with a negligible risk, a life-long intensive treatment regimen.
All HF clinics located in Zealand, Denmark, with a catchment area of \>2 million citizens, have agreed to participate in the WEAN-HF trial. A total of 348 patients will be randomized. Patients are followed up the 1st year after randomization with clinical examination, biomarkers and echocardiography, and are subsequently followed via Danish nationwide registries for 10 years.