Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease in a Population-Based Cohort of High-Cost Healthcare Services Users.

BACKGROUND: Data are limited data on the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and multimorbidity in contemporary cohorts of high-cost users (HCUs) in Canada.We examined the following: (i) the prevalence of CVD, with a comparison of total healthcare costs among HCUs with vs without CVD; (ii) the contribution of other comorbidities to costs among HCUs with CVD; and (iii) the trajectory of healthcare costs in the years before and after becoming an HCU. METHODS: The study included adult Alberta patients in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canadian Institute for Health Information Dynamic Cohort of Complex, High System Users from 2011-2012 through 2014-2015. We examined total healthcare costs, including hospital, ambulatory care, physician services, and drugs. RESULTS: Among 88,536 HCUs, 23.4% had no CVD, 28.9% were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of CVD, and 47.7% were hospitalized with a secondary diagnosis of CVD. Total healthcare costs were $2.0 billion (20.4% non-hospital costs), $2.8 billion (24.1% non-hospital costs), and $4.9 billion (19.8% non-hospital costs), respectively, in the 3 groups. Many HCUs with CVD were frail (74.2%) and many had diabetes (33.8%) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (27.9%), which contributed to higher costs and mortality. Healthcare expenditures in HCUs with CVD were several times higher than per capita health expenditures in the years prior to, and following, their inclusion in the dynamic HCU cohort. CONCLUSIONS: CVD is very common in HCUs of healthcare. HCUs with CVD have high rates of frailty and multimorbidity. Further research is needed to identify and intervene earlier, in order to flatten the cost curve in these complex patients.

INTRODUCTION: Les données sur la prévalence des maladies cardiovasculaires (MCV) et de la multimorbidité au sein des cohortes contemporaines de grands utilisateurs (GU) du Canada sont limitées. Nous avons examiné ce qui suit : (i) la prévalence des MCV en comparant les coûts totaux des soins de santé entre les GU atteints de MCV et les GU non atteints de MCV; (ii) la contribution des autres comorbidités aux coûts liés aux GU atteints de MCV; (iii) la trajectoire des coûts des soins de santé dans les années avant et après avoir été considérés comme un GU. MÉTHODES: L'étude portait sur des patients adultes de l'Alberta de la Cohorte dynamique de grands utilisateurs du système de santé aux besoins complexes de 2011-2012 à 2014-2015 des Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada et de l'Institut canadien d'information sur la santé. Nous avons examiné les coûts totaux des soins de santé, notamment les coûts hospitaliers, les coûts des soins ambulatoires, des services médicaux et des médicaments. RÉSULTATS: Parmi les 88 536 GU, 23,4 % n'avaient pas de MCV, 28,9 % étaient hospitalisés et avaient un diagnostic principal de MCV, et 47,7 % étaient hospitalisés et avaient un diagnostic secondaire de MCV. Les coûts totaux des soins de santé des 3 groupes étaient respectivement de 2,0 G$ (20,4 % de coûts non hospitaliers), 2,8 G$ (24,1 % de coûts non hospitaliers) et 4,9 G$ (19,8 % de coûts non hospitaliers). Plusieurs GU atteints de MCV étaient fragiles (74,2 %) et beaucoup avaient le diabète (33,8 %) ou une maladie pulmonaire obstructive chronique (27,9 %), qui contribuaient à des coûts et à une mortalité plus élevés. Les dépenses de santé par personne liées aux GU atteints de MCV étaient beaucoup plus élevées que les dépenses de santé par personne dans les années qui précédaient ou suivaient leur inclusion dans la cohorte dynamique de GU atteints de MCV. CONCLUSIONS: Les GU de soins de santé sont très fréquemment atteints de MCV. Les GU atteints de MCV présentent des taux de fragilité et de multimorbidité élevés. D'autres recherches sont nécessaires pour cerner et intervenir plus tôt afin d'aplatir la courbe des coûts chez ces patients aux besoins complexes.

Critical international normalized ratio results after hours: To call or not to call?

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the timing of notification of critical international normalized ratio (INR) results (during or after clinic hours) altered the clinician's ability to affect same-day patient care. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: The Anticoagulation Management Service at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 276 patients with critical INR results (> 5.0) separated by at least 30 days were identified to have 200 critical INR results reported during clinic hours and 200 reported after hours. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in the proportion of patients with critical INR results having same-day care altered (by changing warfarin dose, administering vitamin K, or referring for assessment) between those with results reported during clinic hours compared with those with results reported after clinic hours. Differences by highly critical INR results (> 9.0 vs ≤ 9.0) and whether patients experienced thromboembolism or bleeding within 30 days were also assessed. RESULTS: Same-day patient care was affected for 174 out of 200 (87.0%) critical INR results reported during clinic hours compared with 101 out of 200 (50.5%) reported after clinic hours (P < .001). The most common reason for not being able to intervene was that warfarin had already been taken. Warfarin dose alteration was the most frequent change (97.1% during clinic hours and 96.0% after hours). When patients with INRs greater than 9.0 were assessed separately, the ability to affect care increased for INRs reported both during and after clinic hours (92.9% and 63.6%, respectively), largely attributable to oral vitamin K use. Overall, thromboembolic and major bleeding event rates were low and were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION: Same-day care was less likely to be affected by critical INR results communicated after hours, most commonly because the patient had already taken their daily warfarin dose. However, after-hours care was still affected for 1 out of 2 patients, which is meaningful and supports current practice.

Data-driven lossy tube-load modeling of arterial tree: in-human study.

In this paper, we present and validate a data-driven method to lossy tube-load modeling of arterial tree in humans. In the proposed method, the lossy tube-load model is fitted to central aortic and peripheral blood pressure (BP) waves in the time domain. For this purpose, we employ a time-domain lossy tube-load model in which the wave propagation constant is formulated to two terms: one responsible for the alteration of wave amplitude and the other for the transport delay. Using the experimental BP data collected from 17 cardiac surgery patients, we showed that the time-domain lossy tube-load model is able to accurately represent the relation between central aortic versus upper-limb and lower-limb BP waves. In addition, the comparison of lossy versus lossless tube-load models revealed that (1) the former outperformed the latter in general with the root-mean-squared errors (RMSE) of 3.1 mm Hg versus 3.5 mm Hg, respectively (p-value < 0.05), and (2) the efficacy of the former over the latter was more clearly observed in case the normalized difference in the mean central aortic versus peripheral BP was large; when the difference was >5% of the underlying mean BP, lossy and lossless models showed the RMSE of 2.7 mm Hg and 3.7 mm Hg, respectively (p-value < 0.05).

Case fatality of bleeding and recurrent venous thromboembolism during, initial therapy with direct oral anticoagulants: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: The frequency and case fatality of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and major bleeding during the initial 3 months of therapy in those treated for symptomatic VTE with either direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) or vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are important clinically relevant outcomes. We sought to measure it during the initial months of anticoagulation for symptomatic VTE. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL to identify studies that enrolled patients with acute symptomatic VTE treated with DOACs or VKA and reported data on bleeding, VTE recurrence and death. Studies were evaluated according to a priori inclusion criteria and critically appraised using established internal validity criteria. Single-proportion random-effects models were used to pool estimates. RESULTS: Of the 2453 citations retrieved, 5 RCTs that enrolled 24,507 patients were included. The rate of major bleeding was 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3-2.5) and 3.1 (95% CI: 2.4-3.9) per 100 patient-years in DOAC and VKA arms, respectively. The rate of VTE recurrence was 3.7 (95% CI: 2.7-4.7) and 4.1 (95% CI: 3.0-5.4) per 100 patient-years of DOAC and VKA, respectively. The case fatality rate of bleeding was significantly higher in the VKA arms 10.4% (95% CI: 6.6-15.4) compared to DOACs 6.1% (95% CI: 2.7-11.7; p value for difference=0.029) with no statistical difference between the case fatalities for recurrent VTE. The rate of death from either definite major bleeding or definite recurrent VTE was 0.27 (95% CI: 0.16-0.40) and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.32-0.63) per 100 patient-years for DOACs and VKAs respectively, resulting in a number needed to treat of 875 for DOACs to prevent one death. CONCLUSION: DOACs are attractive alternatives to VKAs for initial treatment of symptomatic VTE, with lower frequency and case fatality for major bleeding. However, the incremental safety benefit of DOACs over VKAs is small, with large numbers needed to treat.

Comparative study on tube-load modeling of arterial hemodynamics in humans.

In this paper, we assess the validity of two alternative tube-load models for describing the relationship between central aortic and peripheral arterial blood pressure (BP) waveforms in humans. In particular, a single-tube (1-TL) model and a serially connected two-tube (2-TL) model, both terminated with a Windkessel load, are considered as candidate representations of central aortic-peripheral arterial path. Using the central aortic, radial and femoral BP waveform data collected from eight human subjects undergoing coronary artery bypass graft with cardiopulmonary bypass procedure, the fidelity of the tube-load models was quantified and compared with each other. Both models could fit the central aortic-radial and central aortic-femoral BP waveform pairs effectively. Specifically, the models could estimate pulse travel time (PTT) accurately, and the model-derived frequency response was also close to the empirical transfer function estimate obtained directly from the central aortic and peripheral BP waveform data. However, 2-TL model was consistently superior to 1-TL model with statistical significance as far as the accuracy of the central aortic BP waveform was concerned. Indeed, the average waveform RMSE was 2.52 mmHg versus 3.24 mmHg for 2-TL and 1-TL models, respectively (p < 0.05); the r² value between measured and estimated central aortic BP waveforms was 0.96 and 0.93 for 2-TL and 1-TL models, respectively (p < 0.05). We concluded that the tube-load models considered in this paper are valid representations that can accurately reproduce central aortic-radial/femoral BP waveform relationships in humans, although the 2-TL model is preferred if an accurate central aortic BP waveform is highly desired.