• Rolf Wachter, Daniel Viriato, Sven Klebs, Stefanie S Grunow, Matthias Schindler, Johanna Engelhard, Catia C Proenca, Frederico Calado, Raymond Schlienger, Markus Dworak, Bogdan Balas, and Sara Bruce Wirta.
• a Clinic and Policlinic for Cardiology , University Hospital Leipzig , Leipzig , Germany.
• Postgrad Med. 2018 Apr 1; 130 (3): 308-316.

ObjectivesThis study aimed to provide early insights into sacubitril/valsartan (sac/val) prescription patterns and the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients prescribed sac/val in primary care and cardiology settings in Germany.MethodsThe study used electronic medical records from the German IMS® Disease Analyzer database. Patients with ≥1 prescription for sac/val during 1 January-31 December 2016 (n = 1643) were identified and followed up for ≤12 months from first prescription. Patients with ≥1 heart failure (HF) diagnosis during the study period, ≥1 additional HF diagnosis in the full history of the database, and ≥1 prescription for an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker and a β-blocker during the study period, without a prescription for sac/val (n = 25,264), were included as a reference cohort. Changes in clinical parameters in the 12 months before and after sac/val initiation were investigated and compared with those from the PARADIGM-HF study.ResultsThe characteristics of patients prescribed sac/val more closely resembled those of patients enrolled in PARADIGM-HF (e.g. younger age, higher proportion of men than women, lower systolic blood pressure) than patients in the reference cohort. Most patients were initiated on the lowest dose of sac/val irrespective of clinical setting. Significant decreases (p < 0.001) in NT-proBNP and glycated haemoglobin levels were observed following sac/val initiation.ConclusionsPatients prescribed sac/val had similar baseline demographics and clinical characteristics to those from PARADIGM-HF, and most patients were initiated on the lowest dose. Changes in clinical parameters before and after initiation mirrored findings from the PARADIGM-HF study.

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