ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Previous studies have shown that correct management of different coronary risk factors can reduce coronary event rates. However, significant undertreatment of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and hypertension is still found during clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an individualized management program to modify coronary disease risk profile. METHODS: One hundred sixty-eight patients discharged from a cardiac rehabilitation department after acute coronary events were prospectively randomized into 2 management strategies: 84 started usual community care and 84 entered a Coronary Artery RIsk MAnagement Programme (CARIMAP) delivered by the rehabilitation day-hospital. Coronary risk profile, optimized therapy, and management were evaluated after the acute event and again after a followup of 9 ± 4 months in both groups. RESULTS: Patients accessed the day-hospital an average of 4 ± 1 months (range, 1-13 months) after the acute event. The duration of the CARIMAP was 5 ± 2 months and the individual number of accesses to the day-hospital was 4 ± 3.8. After the CARIMAP, patients received better-optimized therapy (ß-blockers 57% vs 85%, P < .0001; angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors 54% vs 84%, P < .00001; statins 38% vs 78%, P < .0001; and amlodipine 22% vs 51%, P < .0001) and had a better risk profile (low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol < 100 mg/dL 30% vs 42%, P < .0001; blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg 63% vs 88%, P < .00001). CONCLUSION: The CARIMAP of secondary prevention delivered by a rehabilitation day-hospital to patients who had undergone an acute coronary event, enabled individually titrated therapy and better control of coronary artery risk factors.
Subject(s)
Coronary Artery Disease/rehabilitation , Lipids/blood , Rehabilitation Centers , Risk Management/methods , Secondary Prevention/methods , Adult , Aged , Blood Pressure , Coronary Artery Disease/drug therapy , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Risk Factors , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Patterns of conversational gestures were analysed in subjects with Alzheimer's type dementia (DAT), fluent aphasics with a primarily lexical-semantic deficit (FA) and normal subjects. The FA subjects produced twice as many gestures as the normal participants with a normal percentage of gestures that showed semantic features of the lexical items in concurrent speech (iconic). A comparable lexical-semantic deficit together with a deficit in conceptual organisation of information corresponded to a normal gesturing rate in the DAT subjects; however, the percentage of iconic gestures was reduced. Gestures were also analysed in four DAT patients whose communicative performance indicated primarily lexical-semantic (2 patients) or conceptual deficit (2 patients). In the two DAT patients with lexical-semantic deficit, the gesture pattern was like that of the FA patients; in the other two, the pattern of the DAT group was observed. These results agree with previous findings that DAT "empty" speech corresponds to reduced production of gestures showing semantic features (Glosser et al., 1998). However, the comparison between DAT with primarily lexical-semantic or conceptual deficits indicates that the nature of the cognitive impairment underlying poor information content and lack of reference in DAT discourse constrains the production of conversational gestures by patients with this disease. These findings are at variance with the hypothesis of parallel dissolution of speech and gestures in language disorders after brain damage (Cicone et al., 1979; McNeill, 1992; Glosser et al., 1998).
