Lower quality of life linked to worse heart outcomes
Across three trials, each 0.1-point lower quality-of-life score was linked to greater relative risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization (hazard ratio 1.10).
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Meta-analysis of 18,694 adults with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome
- What changed:
- Cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization risk was higher with poorer quality-of-life scores (hazard ratio 1.10 per 0.1-point decrease)
- The catch:
- Worse kidney function and more comorbidities could partly explain the link with poorer quality-of-life scores
- In the record:
- The 51st paper on finerenone with results in people; 127 on record in all.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Adults with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes, or heart failure, took part in three randomized trials pooled for this prespecified analysis. Starting quality-of-life scores were available for 18,694 participants, whose average age was 67; 35% were women. The trials compared finerenone with placebo and assessed quality of life through a questionnaire at the start and 12 months. Its health-status scale ran from below zero to 1, with higher scores indicating better health.
Lower starting scores were associated with worse health profiles and greater risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization after adjustment for other factors. Finerenone's effects on this combined outcome were consistent across starting scores. At 12 months, finerenone improved the health-status score by 0.006 points compared with placebo, with greater improvements among participants who started with poorer scores.
Why it matters
For older adults with heart or kidney disease, whether a drug changes daily well-being matters alongside its effects on hospitalization and survival.
Caveats
Other differences in health could have contributed to the link between poorer quality-of-life scores and later heart outcomes. The findings concern people with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes or heart failure, not people without those conditions.
The paper
Brigham and Women's Hospital
AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 Abstract, Nov 2, 2026
Presented at AHA Scientific Sessions 2026, abstract 5952
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