Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37625819›Full record

ArticleOpen heart2023

Association between implanted cardioverter-defibrillators and mortality for patients with left ventricular ejection fraction between 30% and 35.

Jason H Wasfy, Aditya Achanta, Michael K Hidrue, Sarah Urbut, Andrea L Axtell, Adam N Berman, Yunong Zhao, Julian Chen, Sarah Gustus, Michael H Picard

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Open heart, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 33% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Aortic valve replacement and mortality in asymptomatic individuals with severe aortic stenosis and left ventricular hypertrophy.European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Jason H WasfyCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA JWASFY@mgh.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0871-5970
Aditya AchantaDepartment of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Michael K HidrueOffice of the Chief Medical Officer, Mass General Brigham, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Sarah UrbutCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Andrea L AxtellDepartment of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Adam N BermanDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Yunong ZhaoCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Julian ChenCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Sarah GustusCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Michael H PicardCardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Harvard University · USBrigham and Women's Hospital · USMass General Brigham · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundConsensus guidelines support the use of implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients with either non-ischaemic or ischaemic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤35%. However, evidence from trials for efficacy specifically for patients with LVEF near 35% is weak. Past trials are underpowered for this population and future trials are unlikely to be performed.

methodsPatients with lowest LVEF between 30% and 35% without an ICD prior to the lowest-LVEF echo (defined as 'time zero') were identified by querying echocardiography data from 28 November 2001 to 9 July 2020 at the Massachusetts General Hospital linked to ICD treatment status. To assess the association between ICD and mortality, propensity score matching followed by Cox proportional hazards models considering treatment status as a time-dependent covariate was used. A secondary analysis was performed for LVEF 36%-40%.

resultsInitially, 526 440 echocardiograms representing 266 601 unique patients were identified. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 6109 patients remained for the analytical cohort. In bivariate unadjusted comparisons, patients who received ICDs were substantially more often male (79.8% vs 65.4%, p<0.0001), more often white (87.5% vs 83.7%, p<0.046) and more often had a history of ventricular tachycardia (74.5% vs 19.1%, p<0.0001) and myocardial infarction (56.1% vs 38.2%, p<0.0001). In the propensity matched sample, after accounting for time-dependence, there was no association between ICD and mortality (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.15, p=0.482).

conclusionsICD therapy was not associated with reduced mortality near the conventional LVEF threshold of 35%. Although this treatment design cannot definitively demonstrate lack of efficacy, our results are concordant with available prior trial data. A definitive, well-powered trial is needed to answer the important clinical question of primary prevention ICD efficacy between LVEF 30% and 35%.

Indexed as

Defibrillators, ImplantableVentricular Function, LeftConsensusEchocardiographyFemaleHumansMaleStroke Volumedefibrillators, implantablehealth servicesheart failure, systolic

Identifiers

PMID37625819
PMCPMC10462974
OpenAlexW4386170135

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.