The efficacy of finerenone on hierarchical composite endpoint analysed using win statistics in patients with heart failure and mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction: A prespecified analysis of FINEARTS ‐ HF (original) (raw)

Kondo, T. et al. (2025) The efficacy of finerenone on hierarchical composite endpoint analysed using win statistics in patients with heart failure and mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction: A prespecified analysis of FINEARTS ‐ HF.European Journal of Heart Failure, 27(8), pp. 1459-1471. (doi: 10.1002/ejhf.3669) (PMID:40300840) (PMCID:PMC12482849)

Abstract

Aims: FINEARTS‐HF demonstrated the efficacy of finerenone in reducing total worsening heart failure (HF) events (first and recurrent) and cardiovascular death, compared to placebo, in patients with HF and mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. We examined the effect of finerenone on these events according to their clinical importance using win statistics. Methods and results: We developed a prespecified hierarchical composite endpoint including the components of the original primary outcome: cardiovascular death (tier 1), total HF hospitalizations (tier 2), and total urgent HF visits (tier 3). For tiers 2 and 3, the number of events was analysed first, followed by the time‐to‐first event. Because win statistics are affected by the censoring distribution, we assessed the hierarchical composite outcome over a fixed period of 24 months. The 6001 participants analysed were randomized equally to finerenone (n = 3003) or placebo (n = 2998). At 24 months, a total of 825 cardiovascular deaths and worsening HF events were observed in the finerenone group, compared with 1012 events in the placebo group. The win ratio was 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.32) (p = 0.010), demonstrating more wins than losses in the finerenone group. The win odds, corresponding to the treatment effect, was 1.05 (95% CI 1.01–1.09), and the net benefit, corresponding to the absolute risk difference, was 2.6% (95% CI 0.6–4.5%). The win ratio remained above 1.0 from 60 days after randomization and reached a plateau after approximately 12 months. HF hospitalizations contributed more to the overall results than cardiovascular death. The win odds at 12 months was 1.04 (95% CI 1.01–1.08), and when adding the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire total symptom score to the hierarchical endpoint as a continuous variable, that increased to 1.07, which is almost identical to the win ratio due to the decrease in ties. Conclusion: Finerenone treatment led to a significant improvement in a composite hierarchical outcome that incorporated cardiovascular death, total HF hospitalizations, and total urgent HF visits, with early onset of benefit.

Item Type: Articles
Additional Information: Dr. Kondo is supported by Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Yagi Foundation, and grant 20 K17112 from Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research. Dr. Jhund and Dr. McMurray are supported by a British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Grant RE/18/6/34217 and the Vera Melrose Heart Failure Research Fund. Bayer was the sponsor and funder of the FINEARTS-HF trial.
Keywords: Heart failure, finerenone, clinical trial, hierarchical composite endpoint, win ratio, win statistics.
Status: Published
Refereed: Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jhund, Professor Pardeep and Petrie, Professor Mark and Kondo, Dr Toru and McMurray, Professor John and Henderson, Dr Alasdair
Authors: Kondo, T., Jhund, P. S., Henderson, A. D., Claggett, B. L., Desai, A. S., Brinker, M., Lay‐Flurrie, J., Schloemer, P., Viswanathan, P., Amarante, F., Chiang, C.‐E., Filippatos, G., Lam, C. S.P., Petrie, M. C., Senni, M., Schou, M., Verma, S., Voors, A. A., von Lewinski, D., Zannad, F., Pitt, B., Vaduganathan, M., Solomon, S. D., and McMurray, J. J.V.
College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
Journal Name: European Journal of Heart Failure
Publisher: Wiley
ISSN: 1388-9842
ISSN (Online): 1879-0844
Published Online: 29 April 2025
Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2025 The Author(s)
First Published: First published in European Journal of Heart Failure 27(8): 1459-1471
Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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Funder and Project Information

BHF Centre of Excellence

Colin Berry

RE/18/6/34217

SCMH - Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health

Deposit and Record Details

ID Code: 354564
Depositing User: Publications Router
Datestamp: 19 Aug 2025 10:45
Last Modified: 06 Oct 2025 08:56
Date of acceptance: 3 April 2025
Date of first online publication: 29 April 2025
Date Deposited: 19 August 2025
Data Availability Statement: Yes