Heart Asia最新文献

Background: Evidence and treatment guidelines support the use of statins in patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) for secondary prevention of subsequent cardiovascular (CV) event. However, treatment adherence and persistence are still a concern.

Methods: We constructed a retrospective population-based cohort of patients, who initiated statin treatment within 90 days after discharge from hospital for ASCVD using the claims database of Taiwan National Health Insurance. Proportion of days covered (PDC) was used to measure statin adherence, and PDC ≥80% was defined as good adherence. The study outcomes were subsequent rehospitalisation or in-hospital death due to composite ASCVD, myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke. Their associations with statin prescription adherence or persistence were analysed using time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model.

Results: The study cohort included 185 252 postdischarge statin initiators. There were 50 015 subsequent ASCVD rehospitalisations including 2858 in-hospital death during 7 years of study period. Good adherence was significantly associated with lower risk of ASCVD rehospitalisation (adjusted HR (aHR) 0.90; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.92) and significantly lower risk of in-hospital death (aHR 0.59; 95% CI 0.53 to 0.65). Compared with constant use of statin, patients in the three less persistent states (recent stop, non-persistence and intermittent use) were associated with higher risk of subsequent ASCVD rehospitalisation, aHRs were 1.16, 1.13 and 1.26, respectively (all p<0.05). The increased risks were consistent with specific outcome of acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke. Also, patients in the recent stop period had significantly higher risk for fatal CV event.

Conclusions: Good adherence and persistence to statin therapy are significantly associated with lower risk of secondary ASCVD rehospitalisation and in-hospital death.

In China, poor cardioprotective medication adherence is a key reason for the high mortality rate of coronary heart disease (CHD). The aims of this systematic review are to (1) describe and synthesise factors that influence medication adherence among Chinese people with CHD, (2) evaluate the current status of intervention studies, and (3) discuss directions of future research to improve medication adherence. A comprehensive search using PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Scopus, Global Health and PsycINFO was undertaken to describe poor adherence in China. Thirty-three eligible articles were included in the study. The review shows that there are multiple contributing factors to poor medication adherence, including patients' sociodemographic characteristics, health status and medication characteristics. In addition, from patients' perspective, lack of medication-related knowledge, such as the name, function, dosage and frequency, contributes to poor adherence. From physicians' perspective, a gap exists between CHD secondary prevention guidelines and clinical practice in China. Follow-up phone calls, educational lectures, booklets and reminder cards were common methods found to be effective in improving medication adherence. This systematic review indicates that cardioprotective medications were commonly prescribed as secondary prevention medication to patients with CHD in China, but adherence to these medications gradually decreased during a follow-up period. Therefore, more research should be conducted on how to establish high-quality health educational programmes aimed at increasing patients' medication adherence.

Background: Frailty is a prognostic factor in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, there is no report on the associations between frailty and clinical adverse events in patients with AF taking direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC). The factors related to the occurrence of clinical adverse events are still under discussion. Therefore, we examined the associations between frailty and clinical adverse events in patients with AF taking DOAC in daily clinical practice.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 240 consecutive patients with AF who had been newly prescribed DOAC in our hospital from April 2016 through May 2017. Data collected included Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) scores, laboratory results and basic demographic information.

Results: During the mean follow-up period of 13.4 months, 20 patients died (7.6 per 100 person-years), stroke or systemic embolism occurred in seven patients (2.6 per 100 person-years) and major bleeding occurred in 11 patients (4.2 per 100 person-years). We defined these adverse events as composite end points, and we estimated adjusted HRs and 95% CIs for risk factors using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Frailty (defined as a CFS score of 5 or more; HR: 3.71; 95% CI: 1.59 to 8.65), female sex (HR: 3.49; 95% CI: 1.73 to 7.07), serum albumin level (HR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.79) and malignancy (HR: 4.02; 95% CI: 1.83 to 8.84) were independent predictors of the composite end points.

Conclusions: Frailty, female sex, hypoalbuminaemia and malignancy were associated with clinical adverse events in patients with AF who were prescribed DOAC.

Objective: Secondary prophylaxis through long-term antibiotic administration is essential to prevent the progression of acute rheumatic fever to rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Benzathine penicillin G (BPG) has been shown to be the most efficacious antibiotic for this purpose; however, adverse events associated with BPG administration have been anecdotally reported. This study therefore aimed to collate case reports of adverse events associated with BPG administration for RHD prophylaxis.

Study design: A literature review was used to explore reported adverse reactions to BPG and inform development of a case report questionnaire. This questionnaire was circulated through professional networks to solicit retrospective reports of adverse events from treating physicians. Returned surveys were tabulated and thematically analysed. Reactions were assessed using the Brighton Collaboration case definition to identity potential anaphylaxis.

Results: We obtained 10 case reports from various locations, with patients ranging in age from early-teens to adults. All patients had clinical or echocardiogram-obtained evidence of valvular disease. The majority of patients (80%) had received BPG prior to the event with no previous adverse reaction. In eight cases, the reaction was fatal; in one case resuscitation was successful and in one case treatment was not required. Only three cases met Level 1 Brighton criteria consistent with anaphylaxis.

Conclusion: These results indicate that anaphylaxis is not a major cause of adverse reactions to BPG. An alternative mechanism for sudden death following BPG administration in people with severe RHD is proposed.

Aims: Classic heat stroke is associated with high in-hospital mortality and morbidity. The relation between the ECG findings in heat stroke and the clinical outcomes of these patients has not been studied. The aim of this study was to describe the electrocardiographic features in patients with classic heat stroke and to determine if there is any correlation of ECG findings with in-hospital outcomes.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study on 50 patients with classic heat stroke during summer months of 2016-2018. All 12-lead electrocardiographic recordings obtained from these patients were subjected to in-depth analysis. Statistical analysis was done to determine the correlation of electrocardiographic findings with in-hospital outcomes.

Results: 37 patients were in sinus rhythm, while supraventricular arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation (n=6), ectopic atrial tachycardia (n=4) and atrial flutter (n=2) were observed in the rest. There was a high prevalence of QTc prolongation, low voltage P waves, conduction defects like incomplete right bundle branch block and repolarisation abnormalities. The ratio of QRS voltage in the limb leads to that in precordial leads was ≤0.5 in nearly three-fourths of the patients. Among the observed electrocardiographic features, low P-wave voltage (<0.01 mV) in lead II was found to have statistically significant correlation with adverse in-hospital outcome (OR 8.93, p=0.04), after adjustment for clinical covariates.

Conclusion: There was high incidence of atrial arrhythmias in patients with classic heat stroke. A low P-wave voltage (<0.01 mV) in lead II was predictive of adverse in-hospital outcome in this cohort of patients.

Introduction: Oesophageal varices (EV) are one of the complications of liver cirrhosis that carries a risk of rupture and bleeding. The safety of performing transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in patients with pre-existing EV is not well described in literature. Therefore, this retrospective study has been conducted to evaluate the safety of preforming TEE in this group of patients.

Methods: The study population was extracted from the 2016 Nationwide Readmissions Data using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System for EV, TEE and in-hospital outcomes. Study endpoints included in-hospital all-cause mortality, hospital length of stay, postprocedural gastrointestinal bleeding and oesophageal perforation.

Results: A total of 81 328 discharges with a diagnosis of EV were identified, among which 242 had a TEE performed during the index hospitalisation. Mean age was 58.3 years, 36.6% female. In comparison to the no-TEE group, the TEE group was associated with comparable in-hospital all-cause mortality (7.0% vs 6.7%, p=0.86) and bleeding (0.9% vs 1.1%, p=0.75); however, TEE group was associated with longer hospital stay (14.9 days vs 6.9 days, p<0.01). There were no reported oesophageal perforations.

Conclusions: TEE is not a common procedure performed in patients with pre-existing EV. TEE seems to be a safe diagnostic tool for evaluation of heart diseases in this group of patients.