Histamine H2 receptor antagonist exposure was related to decreased all-cause mortality in critical ill patients with heart failure: a cohort study

Abstract Background Previous studies reported that histamine H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) had cardioprotective effects. However, the effect of H2RAs on mortality of critical ill patients with heart failure (HF) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to clarify the association between H2RAs and all-cause mortality of critical ill patients with HF based on Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database (MIMIC-III). Methods Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to account for the baseline differences between two groups that exposed to H2RAs or not. The study primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Kaplan–Meier curves and multivariable Cox regression models were employed to estimate the effects of H2RAs on mortality of critical ill patients with HF. Results A total of 10 387 patients were included, involving 4440 H2RAs users and 5947 non-H2RAs users. After matching, 3130 pairs of patients were matched between H2RAs users and non-H2RAs users. The results showed significant association between H2RAs exposure and decreased 30-day, 90-day and 1-year mortality in both univariate analyses and multivariate analyses (HR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.65-0.83 for 30-day; HR = 0.80, 95%CI: 0.72-0.89 for 90-day; and HR = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.76-0.90 for 1-year mortality, respectively) by Cox regression after PSM. Furthermore, stratified analyses revealed that the 30-day, 90-day and 1-year mortality of ranitidine users were significantly lower than those of famotidine users, respectively. Conclusions H2RAs exposure was associated with lower mortality in critical ill patients with HF. Furthermore, ranitidine might be superior to famotidine in reducing mortality of critical ill patients with HF.