Are registry hospitals different? A comparison of patients admitted to hospitals of a commercial heart failure registry with those from national and community cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Clinical registries have been created to address questions that are difficult to answer with clinical trials. However, the applicability of registry findings to the general population has been questioned because of concerns over potential bias in the selection of participating hospitals. The purpose of this study was to determine if patients admitted to hospitals participating in a heart failure registry (ADHERE) are comparable with patients admitted to other hospitals, including those admitted to Framingham area hospitals. METHODS: We used a 20% random sample of all Medicare patients discharged during 1984 to 2001 to determine rates of hospitalization, procedure use, and survival after a first admission for heart failure (none in the prior 3 years). Hospitals were classified as participating in the ADHERE registry (n = 189), located within or near Framingham, MA (n = 9), or other (n = 5541). RESULTS: A total of 725,702 first admissions were identified, including 80,338 to ADHERE hospitals and 1716 to Framingham area hospitals. Minimal differences in patient characteristics were noted between patients admitted to ADHERE and non-ADHERE hospitals, although patients admitted to Framingham area hospitals were more likely to be white (95%) than were patients admitted to ADHERE (84%) or other hospitals (87%, P < .0001). Mortality at 1 year was 35.8% for ADHERE, 36.2% for other hospitalized patients, and 32.9% for Framingham patients (P < .0001). Rehospitalization for heart failure at 90 days was 13.0% for following admission to ADHERE, 13.0% to other hospitals, and 16.4% to Framingham hospitals (P = .0004). After adjustment for patient characteristics, differences in outcome between ADHERE and non-ADHERE hospitals remained minimal. CONCLUSION: Patients admitted with heart failure to ADHERE registry hospitals had similar baseline characteristics and outcomes to other patients.

The level I cardiovascular center: is it time?

There is no uniform approach to treating the 1.5 million US citizens who have an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) each year. This contrasts with the trauma system developed to efficiently triage and treat the critically injured accident victim. Only two thirds of patients with ST-segment elevation AMI in the United States are treated with thrombolytic therapy or primary angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI]) which can reduce the 30-day mortality rate from approximately 15% to 6%-10%. The Early Retavase-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (ER-TIMI) 19 trial demonstrated that AMI patients who received prehospital thrombolytic therapy and were brought to the nearest receiving hospital experienced a 32-minute reduction in the time to treatment and time to ST-elevation resolution compared with those treated at their time of hospital arrival. This expedited therapy was associated with a low in hospital mortality rate (4.7%). The potential benefit of facilitated PCI with partial-dose thrombolysis and abciximab administration was demonstrated by the Strategies for Patency Enhancement in the Emergency Department (SPEED) investigators who found that double bolus recombinant plasminogen activator (reteplase) (5 + 5 megaunits) and abciximab with the addition of early PCI, resulted in a final infarct-related artery TIMI 3 flow rate of 86% compared with 77% with combination therapy alone. The Primary Angioplasty in Acute Myocardial Infarction (PAMI) investigators have shown that patients admitted with infarct-related artery TIMI 3 flow at the time of primary PCI had less than a 1% 6-month mortality. Treating AMI patients with prehospital, partial dose thrombolysis followed by immediate transport to a Level I cardiovascular center (bypassing the closest hospital if necessary) for facilitated infarct-related artery PCI has the potential to reduce the mortality in ST-elevation AMI patients from 6%-10% to less than 4% which could translate into saving approximately 500 lives per day in the United States. It is time to validate this strategy with a randomized clinical trial, the Prehospital Administration of Thrombolytic Therapy With Urgent Culprit Artery Revascularization trial (PATCAR).

Estudo multicêntrico de idosos em ambulatórios de cardiologia e geriatria de instituiçöes brasileiras / Multicenter study of elderly patients in outpatient clinics of cardiology and geriatric brazilian institutions

OBJETIVO - Avaliar aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e terapêuticos de idosos com doenças cardiovasculares (DCV), no Brasil. MÉTODOS - Idosos com DCV, atendidos em 36 serviços de Cardiologia e Geriatria do Brasil, foram investigados através de questionário aplicado aos que tinham consulta marcada para o período analisado (um mês). RESULTADOS - Estudados 2196 idosos de 65 a 96 anos, sendo 60 'por cento' mulheres e analisados od fatores de risco: sedentarismo (74 'por cento'), pressão arterial (PA) elevada (53 'por cento'), LDL colesterol aumentado (33 'por cento'), colesterol total aumentado (30 'por cento'), obesidade (30 'por cento'), HDL -colesterol diminuído (15 'por cento'), diabetes (13 'por cerno') e tabagismo (6 'por cento'). Observou-se maior prevalência nas mulheres, com três ou mais fatores de risco. O principal motivo de consulta foi a PA elevada (48 'por cento'). Teste ergométrico e cinecoronariografia, foram mais solicitados para os homens. Os diagnósticos mais comuns foram hipertensão arterial sistêmica (HAS) (67 'por cento') e insuficiência coronária (iCo) (29 'por cento'). Os medicamentos mais utilizados foram diuréticos (42 'por cento'). CONCLUSÄO - Foi observada alta prevalência de fatores de risco (93 'por cento'), principalmente nas mulheres; sedentarismo, como fator de risco mais freqüente, aumentando de prevalência com a idade; HAS, como principal motivo de consulta e diagnóstico; menor investigação e diagnóstico de iCo em mulheres; diuréticos, como os fármaco mais freqüentemente prescritos; insuficiência cardíaca como principal doença associada a internação (31 'por cento') e atendimento de emergência (10 'por cento').

Primary prevention of coronary artery disease through a family-oriented cardiac risk factor clinic.

Primary prevention of coronary artery disease in children and young adults is important and can be instituted through a family-oriented cardiac risk factor clinic. Such a clinic was initiated at the Medical College of Georgia in March 1988. Children whose total cholesterol level (TC) exceeded 200 mg/dL when screened by their primary care physician were referred with their siblings and parents for fasting lipid profile and further evaluation. Data are available for the initial 21 families, including 30 children and 36 adults. The mean TC level was 258 mg/dL for index cases, 195 mg/dL for siblings, and 233 mg/dL for parents. Follow-up data obtained after therapy at a mean of 6 months are available for 12 families, including 14 children and 14 adults. The mean change in TC was from 265 to 246 mg/dL; 82% of the patients had a decrease in TC. Only one index case was documented as having neither a sibling nor a parent with an elevated cholesterol level. Family-oriented cardiac risk factor clinics are important for the identification and treatment of hypercholesterolemia in asymptomatic young people when primary prevention is possible.