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Soluble suppression of tumorigenicity-2 (sST2) predicts all-cause mortality in patients with heart failure (HF). However, the predictive value of sST2 measurements after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation is still unknown. Therefore, we studied the relationship between longitudinal sST2 measurements and long-term outcome after LVAD implantation.

Post-operative sST2 levels of all patients primarily implanted with a HeartMate3 (HM3) or HeartWare (HVAD) LVAD (n=237) between 2015 and 2022 were included for analysis, with a follow-up until May 2022. A Joint Model (JM) was used to evaluate the relationship between serially measured sST2 and adverse outcome. The JM combined a linear mixed-effects model to estimate the sST2 trajectory and a cause-specific cox regression model for the primary outcomes survival and right heart failure adjusted for pre-specified covariates. We …