Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is prevalent in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, due to its high vulnerability to hemodynamic loads, the long-term observation may heighten its prognostic values.

Purpose: To investigate the evolution of TR and its impact on clinical outcomes in patients with HFpEF.

Methods: An analysis was performed from a prospective multicenter observational registry for HFpEF (PURSUIT-HFpEF Registry) conducted in the Osaka region of Japan. A total of 1238 patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (HF) (diagnosed by using Framingham criteria) met the inclusion criteria: an LVEF ≥50% and brain natriuretic peptide level ≥100 pg/ml. After excluding patients who died within 1 year, we included 761 patients (age 82 ± 9 years; men, 45%; atrial fibrillation, 37%) whose echocardiographic data at discharge and 1 year were available.

Results: At discharge, 165 patients (21.7%) had moderate to severe TR, which increased to 185 patients (24.3%) at 1 year. Patients were categorized into 4 groups based on the TR evolution: no or mild TR that remained unchanged (n = 522 [69%]), no or mild TR that worsened to moderate to severe (n = 74 [9.7%]), moderate to severe TR that improved to no or mild (n = 54 [7.1%]), and moderate to severe TR that remained unchanged (n = 111 [15%]). During a subsequent follow-up of 33 months, patients with persistent moderate to severe TR had significantly higher mortality rates than the other groups (25.7% vs. 27.0% vs. 27.8% vs. 44.1%, log-rank p < 0.001). Even after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, left atrial diameter, and left ventricular filling pressure, persistent moderate to severe TR was independently associated with subsequent mortality (hazard ratio, 2.06, 95% confidence interval 1.42-2.99, p < 0.001)

Conclusions: During a one-year follow-up, changes in the TR severity were not rare in patients with HFpEF. Persistent moderate to severe TR alone was associated with subsequent mortality, highlighting the need to address persistent TR to improve the prognosis.