Wearable Defibrillator Supports Quicker Beta-Blocker Optimization in Women

Women with newly diagnosed heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) often do not reach optimal beta-blocker dosing during early treatment. Guideline-directed titration depends on achieving adequate heart rate control, yet this can be difficult while sudden cardiac death risk remains elevated in the initial months of therapy. Continuous, clinically actionable heart rate data may help physicians accelerate safe medication up‑titration while maintaining patient protection.

ZOLL’s LifeVest wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) captures heart rate and other biometric data and displays them on the ZOLL Patient Management (ZPM) Network. Clinicians using ZPM can remotely review patient status and adjust therapy as needed, with these insights helping inform dosing decisions during guideline-directed medical therapy when close monitoring is required.

New findings from the Optimizing Beta‑Blocker Dosage in Female Patients Using the Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator (OPT‑BB Women) interventional study indicate that LifeVest‑derived insights helped physicians achieve better heart rate control in women—an indicator of more rapid beta‑blocker optimization and an outcome associated with improved survival. 

The results were presented at Heart Failure 2026 (Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology), held in May 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. The study evaluated use of the WCD to support beta‑blocker up‑titration in women with newly diagnosed HFrEF.

The data arrive amid continued concern about early sudden cardiac death risk despite modern heart failure therapy. Citing the SCD‑PROTECT study, the announcement notes that sudden cardiac death risk remains high in patients with HFrEF during the early optimization period, which can extend beyond three months. In SCD‑PROTECT, LifeVest use showed a median wear time of more than 23.4 hours per day, supporting patient adherence during remote monitoring.

Women using LifeVest are protected from sudden cardiac death risk during the initial months of guideline‑directed therapy, when optimization is ongoing. Together, these insights position the WCD as a tool to help clinicians address both monitoring and protection needs while working toward heart rate targets in beta‑blocker titration.

“Heart rate control is adequate in only about half of the women (57%), compared with 64% of men at the end of a therapy optimization period,” said Dr. Valentina Kutyifa, MD, PhD, Tenured Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medicine, and Director of the Clinical Trials Enrolling Unit, Cardiology Division, Global Principal Investigator of the study.

“This was the first study assessing the utility of using the WCD in women with newly diagnosed HFrEF to optimize beta‑blocker dosage and we have shown a remarkable improvement in HR control from diagnosis, with 80% of the women now being adequately treated,” added Dr. Kutyifa.