Current Status and Clinical Effectiveness of Anticoagulant Therapy for In-hospital Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes at County Hospitals of China / 中国循环杂志

Objective: To analyze the current status of anticoagulant therapy for in-hospital patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) at county hospitals of China and to explore the relationship between anticoagulant therapy and clinical outcomes in real medical environment. Methods: 99 county hospitals from15 provinces of China were selected for this prospective registry study and 12373 eligible ACS patients without interventional therapy admitted from 2011-09 to 2014-06 were enrolled. The basic condition, previous history, initial assessment, anticoagulants (unfractionated heparin/low molecular weight heparin) application, severe bleeding events and in-hospital mortality were collected in all patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between anticoagulant therapy and clinical outcomes including in-hospital mortality, severe bleeding events and combined endpoints; meanwhile, possible confounders were adjusted. Results: A total of 9985/12373 ACS patients received anticoagulant therapy and 2388 did not. Anticoagulant therapy was conducted in 92.7% (4237/4570) patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 90.8% (1639/1805) with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and 68.5% (4109/5998) with unstable angina (UA); there were differences by regions and genders,P0.05. Meanwhile, it did not increase the risk of severe bleeding events in ACS patients,P>0.05. Conclusion: Anticoagulant therapy has been widely used in STEMI and NSTEMI patients at county hospitals of China and obviously decreased the in-hospital mortality; while the application rate was relatively low in UA patients. The general safety of anticoagulant therapy has been good in ACS patients.

Gender Disparity and Influencing Factors for In-hospital Mortality in Patients With ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction at Secondary Hospitals in China / 中国循环杂志

Objective: To understand the gender disparity and influencing factors for in-hospital mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) at secondary hospitals in China. Methods: A total of 5525 in-hospital STEMI patients from 99 secondary hospitals of 15 provinces or autonomous regions between 2011-09 to 2014-06 were recruited including 1649 female and 3876 male. The in-hospital mortalities were compared between 2 genders and the relevant inlfuencing factors were studied by multiple Logistic regression analysis. Results: There were about 29.8% female and 70.2% male STEMI patients were studied. The in-hospital mortalities in female and male were 13.2% and 5.9%,P<0.01; gender disparity was obviously existing regardless of age, history of MI, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The mortality in female was higher than male even without diseases history and cardiovascular risk factors. Compared with male gender, female patients were usually having elder age and likely complicated with cardiovascular risk factors; they were with lower incidence to receive ECG, drug therapy and thrombolysis within 10 minutes of admission. With adjusted confounding factors, multiple regression analysis presented that female STEMI patients had the higher mortality than male (OR:1.7, 95% CI:1.4-2.0). Conclusion: The in-hospital mortality for STEMI patients was higher in female than male at secondary hospitals in China. Female patients were usually having elder age, complicated with more cardiovascular risk factors, while with less chances to receive ECG, drug therapy and thrombolysis within 10 minutes of admission.

A cross-sectional study of factors related to traditional Chinese medicine use for hospitalized acute coronary syndrome patients in China's level 2 hospitals / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the current status on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) use for hospitalized acute coronary syndrome patients in China's level 2 hospitals, and to explore associated factors of TCM use for these patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This survey was performed in 102 level 2 hospitals from 15 provinces or autonomous region in China. Patients admitted to these hospitals with acute coronary syndrome during September 2011 to May 2012 were eligible for this study. Information on TCM use was obtained from their medical records. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to explore the related factors of TCM use in these patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>We recruited 5 432 acute coronary syndrome patients in this study, TCM was applied to 3 503 patients (64.5%). Multivariable logistic regression showed that pre-hospital TCM use was positively related with in-hospital TCM use (OR = 2.08, P < 0.01) , while pre-hospital use of 4 medicines recommended by the guidelines(including aspirin/clopidogrel, β acceptor blocker, stain and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin converting enzyme receptor blocker ), being a smoker and diagnosis of myocardial infarction rather than unstable angina at hospital discharge were negatively related with in-hospital TCM use (the ORs were 0.58, 0.78 and 0.71, respectively, all P < 0.01). The TCM use varied significantly between regions. Taking southwest region as a reference, the ORs varied between 2.98-13.37 (all P < 0.01) in eastern China, south China, central China, north China, northwest and northeast regions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>TCM is widely used in hospitalized acute coronary syndrome patients in China's resource-constrained level 2 hospitals. Pre-hospital TCM use is positively correlated with in-hospital TCM use for these patients.</p>

Effects of blood-lipid report's reformat on outpatients' behavior and knowledge of dyslipidemia therapy / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective To evaluate the effects of blood-lipid report's reformat on outpatients' behavior and knowledge of dyslipidemia therapy.Methods The blood-lipid report was reformatted by adding three tables from the Chinese Guideline on the Prevention and Treatment of Adult Dyslipidemia on its back.The same questionnaire was used twice to evaluate the patients' behavior and knowledge of dyslipidemia therapy before and after reformat.Results Before and after reformat,the rates of correct deterination of their own risk stratification were 26.0％ ( 112/430 ) and 26.3％ ( 115/438 ) respectively.The awareness rates of Different LDL-C goals among different persons wcre 37.0％ (159/430) and 35.8％ (157/438).Only 0.7％ (2/306) and 1.0％ (3/299) of patients knew their blood lipid goals (P =0.557).When the report showed normal blood lipid levels,the percentages of taking lipid-lowering drug were 47.6％ ( 230/483 ) and 46.6％ ( 216/464 ),20.5％ ( 99/483 ) and 19.0％ ( 88/464 ) of patients questioned the prescription.Non-medication rates were 31.9％ ( 154/483 ) and 34.5％ ( 160/464 ) respectively before and after reformat ( P ＞ 0.05 ).For patients requiting lipid-lowering drug therapy by the guideline,treatment rate improved significantly in the low-risk group (13.3％ vs.75.0％,P =0.002).Treatment rate slightly increased in the high-risk and very high-risk groups after reformat (54.0％ vs.56.8％,62.4％ vs.69.0％,P ＞ 0.05 ).Rates of achieving lipid goal showed no change [ 41.5％ ( 102/ 245 ) vs.44.5％ ( 114/256 ),P ＞ 0.05 ] after reformat,especially among the very high-risk patients [17.9％(12/68) vs.21.6％(11/52),P＞0.05].Conclusions The blood-lipid report reformat did not improve the patient behaviors and knowledge of the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemia because of poor treatment rate and medication compliance.The combination of patient education and thorough blood-lipid report reformat may help to increase the attainment rate of dyslipidemia therapy.

On Ethical Issues Related to Road Safety / 中国医学伦理学

With the process of rapid mobilization,China is suffering from huge road tolls.The ethical issues related to road safety are also emerging.To provide recommendations for relevant public policies,we discussed several ethical issues in this article as follows.Human lives and health may not be traded off for the benefit of mobilization.The designers,regulators of road traffic system share responsibilities for road safety with users.The principle of equity needs to be embodied in the road traffic system.Therefore,it is necessary to increase investment in underdeveloped areas and enhance the protection of vulnerable road users.