Reasons for non-intensification of treatment in people with type 2 diabetes receiving oral monotherapy: Outcomes from the prospective DIAttitude study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the management of glucose-lowering agents in people with type 2 diabetes initially on oral monotherapy, cared for by French general practitioners, and to identify reasons underlying treatment non-intensification. METHODS: People with type 2 diabetes on oral monotherapy were recruited by general practitioners and followed-up over 12 months. Patient characteristics, HbA1c, and glucose-lowering treatments were recorded electronically. Management objectives and reasons for treatment non-intensification were solicited from the general practitioners. RESULTS: A total of 1212 patients were enrolled by 198 general practitioners; 937 patients (mean age 68 years) were treated with oral monotherapy, and 916 patients had at least two successive HbA1c values recorded. Of these, 390 patients (43%) had HbA1c≥6.5% on both occasions, and 164/390 (42%) had their treatment intensified. The 226 patients whose treatment was not intensified were older (69±11 years vs. 66±12 years, P=0.02) and had better glycaemic control at study inclusion (6.9%±0.6 vs. 7.3%±0.8, P<0.0001) than treatment intensified patients. Among uncontrolled patients, there were no differences in general practitioner treatment objectives at inclusion for treatment intensified and non-intensified patients; the main reason given by general practitioners for non-intensification was that the patient had an adequate HbA1c (66%). HbA1c did exceed the 6.5% target, but was less than 7.0% in 69% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: General practitioners showed a patient-centred approach to treatment, but clinical inertia was apparent for 31% of the uncontrolled patients.

[Hypoglycemic treatment in type 2 diabetes patients suffering from moderate to severe renal failure in France. Aim of the study]. / Traitements antidiabétiques des patients diabétiques de type 2 atteints d'une insuffisance rénale modérée ou sévère suivis en médecine générale en France.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study is to describe the hypoglycemic agents prescribed to type 2 diabetes patients (T2D) with renal impairment (RI). METHOD: Data were extracted from the database LPD-CEGEDIM, based on a sample of 1200 general practitioners. The analysis focused on T2D patients with RI, defined by a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) below 60 mL/min/1.73 m², estimated by the MDRD formula. RESULTS: Of the 36 255 patients identified with T2D, a GFR was calculated for 8 647 patients (23.9%), 1 472 (22%) with a moderate RI (GFR=[30mL/min/1.73 m²-60mL/min/1.73 m²]) and 86 (1.0%) with a severe RI (GFR=[15mL/min/1.73 m-30mL/min/1.73 m²]); 47,6% of T2D patients with a moderate RI and 52,3% of T2D patients with a severe RI were treated with at least one drug contraindicated in patients with moderate or severe RI. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest better informing doctors of these contraindications and show the value of having new hypoglycemic drugs that can be used in case of RI.

Prediction of persistence of combined evidence-based cardiovascular medications in patients with acute coronary syndrome after hospital discharge using neural networks.

In the PREVENIR-5 study, artificial neural networks (NN) were applied to a large sample of patients with recent first acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to identify determinants of persistence of evidence-based cardiovascular medications (EBCM: antithrombotic + beta-blocker + statin + angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor-ACEI and/or angiotensin-II receptor blocker-ARB). From October 2006 to April 2007, 1,811 general practitioners recruited 4,850 patients with a mean time of ACS occurrence of 24 months. Patient profile for EBCM persistence was determined using automatic rule generation from NN. The prediction accuracy of NN was compared with that of logistic regression (LR) using Area Under Receiver-Operating Characteristics-AUROC. At hospital discharge, EBCM was prescribed to 2,132 patients (44%). EBCM persistence rate, 24 months after ACS, was 86.7%. EBCM persistence profile combined overweight, hypercholesterolemia, no coronary artery bypass grafting and low educational level (Positive Predictive Value = 0.958). AUROC curves showed better predictive accuracy for NN compared to LR models.

Persistence of combination of evidence-based medical therapy in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse long-term adherence persistence of evidence-based medical therapy in 'real-world' patients with coronary disease. METHODS: Cardiologists recruited the first three consecutive patients seen in either hospital clinics or private practice in 2006 who had been hospitalized for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in 2005 in France. Demographic characteristics, medical history, current treatments and medications at hospital discharge were recorded. The primary outcome was the persistence of the combination therapy comprising a beta-blocker, an antiplatelet, a statin and an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor (BASI). RESULTS: A total of 1700 patients were included in this French observational study. The mean time from hospital discharge to consultation was 14+/-4 months. At hospital discharge, BASI had been prescribed in 46.2% of patients, 80.2% of whom were still taking the combination at the consultation. Non-persistence was associated with severe noncardiovascular disease, atrial fibrillation and lack of significant coronary artery stenosis. When analysed separately, beta-blockers, antiplatelets, statins and ACE inhibitors had been prescribed at hospital discharge in 82.4, 98.9, 89.2 and 58%, respectively. Persistence over the 14-months period was greater than 86% for each of the drug classes. After hospital discharge, BASI was initiated in 8.5% of patients. Fourteen months after hospitalization for an ACS, 45.6% of patients were taking BASI. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term persistence of BASI remained high after hospital discharge for an ACS, whereas the combination was started in a minority of those not discharged on this treatment. Fourteen months after an ACS, only half of the patients were receiving BASI, mainly due to failure to prescribe an ACE inhibitor at discharge. Our results highlight the importance of hospital prescription of BASI to obtain long-term persistence in ACS.

[Prognosis at six months for primary care patients: prognostics factors analysis]. / Pronostic a six mois des patients coronariens suivis en médecine de ville: etude des facteurs influençant le devenir.

UNLABELLED: AIM OF THE SURVEY: The aim of the PREVENIR III study was to assess, in secondary prevention, the risk of subsequent coronary and cerebrovascular events at six months in a population of patients in private practice. METHODS: This was a prospective observational survey (6-month follow-up), including patients diagnosed with previous myocardial infarction, unstable angina or ischemic stroke, carried out by French general practitioners and cardiologists in private practice. RESULTS: 8288 patients were selected by 3746 physicians (2961 general practitioners and 785 cardiologists) representative of French metropolitan physicians in private practice. In this analysis the medical records of 6859 coronary patients were analyzed. After a 6-month follow-up, 84 patients had been hospitalized for a subsequent coronary or cerebrovascular event (1.2%) i.e. cumulative incidence 3.1 event per 100 person-years (95% CI 2.4-3.8). In the coronary population 77.4% of the subsequent vascular events were coronary events and 22.6% were cerebrovascular events. The event rate of coronary events was 0.9% and the cumulative incidence 2.3 event per 100 person-years (95% CI 1.8-2.8), the risk of secondary ischemic stroke was 0.3% and the cumulative incidence 0.7 event per 100 person-years (95% CI 0.4-1.0), and the all-cause mortality rate was 1.0% and the cumulative incidence 2.5 event per 100 person-years (95% CI 1.9-3.1). 61.0% of total death was cardiovascular deaths. Multivariate analysis showed that older age, recent index event, three vessel disease were more likely to undergo recurrent events. CONCLUSION: Our survey enabled a better understanding of the prognosis at six months for a large sample of coronary patients recruited in private practice medicine. For coronary patients treated in private practice the risk of subsequent events and total mortality is far from insignificant.

Drug prescriptions and referral to cardiac rehabilitation after acute coronary events: comparison between men and women in the French PREVENIR Survey.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The problem of a possible gender bias in coronary heart disease management is still controversial. We studied gender differences in secondary preventive drug prescriptions and in referral to cardiac rehabilitation after acute coronary events in France. METHODS: An observational survey was carried out in 1998-1999 in 150 French intensive cardiac care units. A sample of 2626 consecutive patients admitted for myocardial infarction or unstable angina and alive at discharge was included. Data were retrospectively collected from medical records after discharge. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 1921 men and 705 women. At discharge, antiplatelet agents were prescribed in 93.4% of men and 91.5% of women (p=0.09), beta-blockers in 73.4% and 63.7% (p<0.0001), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in 39.9% and 44.3% (p<0.05), and statins in 47.0% and 40.7% (p<0.01). The percentage of subjects referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program at discharge was 26.2% in men and 15.5% in women (p<0.0001). In multivariate analysis, taking into account confounding factors, gender did not appear as an independent determinant of drug prescriptions. Conversely, being a woman was independently associated with a lower probability to be referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program at discharge (adjusted female-to-male odds ratio: 0.44 (95% confidence interval: [0.31-0.64], p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, gender was not an independent determinant of secondary preventive drug prescriptions after acute coronary events. Conversely, we found a gender bias in referral to cardiac rehabilitation programs at discharge.