Presentation summary

Introduction :
With heart failure (HF) patients requiring ongoing management, there is a demand for alternative treatments to avert mortality. In Korea, acupuncture treatment, covered by insurance, provides accessible care without imposing financial constraints on patients. Hence, this study leveraged National Health Insurance Service from Korea to explore the influence of acupuncture exposure on the mortality of patients with HF.

Methods :
Adults aged 20 and above newly diagnosed with HF were included. Those receiving ≥2 acupuncture sessionswithin a year post-diagnosis constituted the acupuncture treatment-exposed group (AT group), while thosewithout any sessions formed the non-exposed acupuncture treatment group (non-AT group). Propensity scorematching ensured a balance, creating a 1:1 matched cohort. Over five years, starting one year post-diagnosis,the study tracked circulatory and all-cause mortality, conducting subgroup and dose-response analyses.

Results :
The AT and non-AT groups, each comprising 4,315 HF patients, showed significantly lower adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) for mortality due to circulatory diseases (0.79, 0.67–0.94) and all-cause mortality (0.73, 0.66–0.81) in the AT group. A dose-response relationship was observed, with more sessions associated with loweraHRs. Subgroup analysis identified specific HF patient demographics benefiting more, such as those aged ≥75years, females, those with more comorbidities, higher income, urban residents, and those without disabilities.

Conclusion :
Acupuncture treatment within one year of HF diagnosis correlated with lower mortality from circulatory diseases and all causes. Future studies with larger sample sizes and more rigorous designs are required forvalidation. Additionally, it is essential to pinpoint specific groups of patients with HF who respond particularly well to acupuncture treatment.