Representativeness of the VICTORIA Trial Population in Clinical Practice: Analysis of the PINNACLE Registry

Background: In the VerICiguaT Global Study in Subjects with Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction (VICTORIA) trial, vericiguat reduced the risk of mortality due to cardiovascular problems and of hospitalization due to heart failure (HF) among patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and recent worsening HF events (WHFEs). The representativeness of the VICTORIA population of patients with WHFE in clinical practice is unknown.

Methods and results: Patients with HF and ejection fraction <45% were identified in the Practice Innovation And Clinical Excellence (PINNACLE) registry and were stratified by the occurrence of WHFEs. Characteristics and outcomes of patients in the PINNACLE registry with and without WHFEs were compared to the VICTORIA population. Of the 14,180 PINNACLE patients identified with HFrEF, 26.5% had had a WHFE. The VICTORIA population was similar to PINNACLE patients with WHFEs in mean age (67.3 vs 66.7), ejection fraction (28.9% vs 28.3%), body mass index (26.8 vs 27.6), and comorbidity burden. The rate of hospitalization because of HF at 1 year was 29.6% in the placebo group of VICTORIA, compared to 35.8% in PINNACLE patients with WHFEs and 13.3% in patients without WHFEs.

Conclusions: The PINNACLE patients with WHFEs meeting the VICTORIA definition resembled the VICTORIA population in characteristics and outcomes, suggesting that VICTORIA's population may be generalizable to patients with WHFEs in clinical practice.