On October 17 and 18, Sónia Santos, a PhD fellow in biomedical sciences, particularly focused on the study of Heart Failure, participated in the Joint Meeting of the Study Groups on Exercise Physiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation (GEFERC) and Cardiovascular Risk (GERC), organized by the Portuguese Society of Cardiology, in Lisbon, to present the poster entitled “Clinical Profiles and Prognosis in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Preliminary Data from a Portuguese Center.”

The work presented and developed as part of her ongoing PhD project stood out for its approach to the clinical characterization of subgroups of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), based on real-world data from patients hospitalized at the Local Health Unit of the Leiria Region.

The preliminary analysis identified two contrasting clinical profiles: a metabolic phenotype, associated with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, and a non-metabolic phenotype, characterized by greater frailty and advanced age. These findings reinforce the heterogeneity of HFpEF and the importance of early identification of different patient profiles for a more personalized and effective approach.

Researchers, physicians, and other leading experts gathered to discuss emerging topics such as obesity, cardiac rehabilitation, cardiovascular prevention, artificial intelligence, and personalized medicine, as well as the role of integrating clinical data and cardiac rehabilitation within a new paradigm of cardiovascular risk.