Journal of Geriatric Cardiology最新文献

Objectives: To examine 5-year trends and variations in dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) prescription among multiethnic Malaysian patients aged 60 years and older.

Methods: Using the Malaysian National Cardiovascular Disease-Acute Coronary Syndrome (NCVD-ACS) registry, DAPT 5-year temporal trends prescribing patterns at discharge were examined. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of DAPT prescription. The 1-year all-cause mortality by Cox proportional hazard regression model (adjusted hazard ratio, aHR) using inverse proportional weighting covariates adjustment was performed to assess DAPT prognostic impacts.

Results: Data of patients aged 60 years and older were extracted from 2013 to 2017 (n = 3718, mean age: 68 ± 6.74 years, men: 72%, and Malay ethnicity: 43%). The majority of patients were diagnosed with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (63%), predisposed hypertension (76%) and were overweight (74%), while only 35% of patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Over the five years, there was a significant increasing trend in DAPT prescriptions (P < 0.001), with the aspirin-clopidogrel combination being the most common. Aspirin-ticagrelor prescriptions have also increased over the years. Variations in DAPT prescriptions were observed based on patient characteristics. Patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention were more likely to be prescribed DAPT in general (aOR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.95-3.28, P < 0.001) and aspirin-ticagrelor specifically (aOR = 7.76, 95% CI: 5.65-10.68, P < 0.001). Patients with chronic lung disease (aOR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.42-0.92, P = 0.02) and a history of angina within two weeks (aOR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.56-0.85, P < 0.001) were approximately 30% less likely to be prescribed DAPT. Approximately 15% of 1-year all-cause mortality were reported. Older patients prescribed DAPT showed significantly higher survival rates than those who were not (aHR < 1.0, P < 0.001). Aspirin-ticagrelor was associated with higher survival rates than aspirin-clopidogrel (aHR = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.11-0.40, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Despite the optimal prescription rate and variation of DAPT in the older Malaysian population, there is room for investigation and improvement in the prescription of newer DAPT combinations that have been suggested to improve patient survival.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia in the elderly. This study aimed to evaluate urban-rural disparities in its prevalence and management in elderly Chinese.

Methods: Consecutive participants aged ≥ 65 years attending outpatient clinics were enrolled for AF screening using handheld single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) from April 2017 to December 2022. Each ECG rhythm strip was reviewed from the research team. AF or uninterpretable single-lead ECGs were referred for 12-lead ECG. Primary study outcome comparison was between rural and urban areas for the prevalence of AF. The Student's t-test was used to compare mean values of clinical characteristics between rural and urban participants, while the Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare between-group proportions. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between AF and various patient characteristics.

Results: The 29,166 study participants included 13,253 men (45.4%) and had a mean age of 72.2 years. The 7073 rural participants differed significantly (P ≤ 0.02) from the 22,093 urban participants in several major characteristics, such as older age, greater body mass index, and so on. The overall prevalence of AF was 4.6% (n = 1347). AF was more prevalent in 7073 rural participants than 22,093 urban participants (5.6% vs. 4.3%, P < 0.01), before and after adjustment for age, body mass index, blood pressure, pulse rate, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and prior medical history. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified overweight/obesity (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.17-1.54) in urban areas and cigarette smoking (OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.20-2.17) and alcohol consumption (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.04-1.93) in rural areas as specific risk factors for prevalent AF. In patients with known AF in urban areas (n = 781) and rural areas (n = 338), 60.6% and 45.9%, respectively, received AF treatment (P < 0.01), and only 22.4% and 17.2%, respectively, received anticoagulation therapy (P = 0.05).

Conclusions: In China, there are urban-rural disparities in AF in the elderly, with a higher prevalence and worse management in rural areas than urban areas. Our study findings provide insight for health policymakers to consider urban-rural disparity in the prevention and treatment of AF.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and one-year prognosis associated with frailty in a contemporary cohort of older patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS).

Methods: The IMPACT-TIMING-GO registry (IMPACT of Time of Intervention in patients with Myocardial Infarction with Non-ST seGment elevation. ManaGement and Outcomes) prospectively included 1020 patients with NSTEACS undergoing invasive coronary angiography between April and May 2021. For this sub-study, patients ≥ 65 years were selected. Frailty was assessed according to FRAIL scale. We studied all-cause mortality and the composite of all-cause mortality or all-cause hospitalizations at one-year follow-up after discharge.

Results: Five hundred and sixty seven patients (mean age: 75.8 ± 6.7 years, 28.2% women) were included: 316 (55.7%) were robust, 183 (32.3%) prefrail, and 68 (12.0%) frail. Frail patients were significantly older, more often women, and presented a worse baseline clinical profile. There were no differences among groups regarding pretreatment with a P2Y12 inhibitor. An urgent angiography (< 24 h) was less frequently performed in frail patients, with no differences regarding revascularization approach or in main in-hospital adverse events, although acute kidney disease occurred more frequently in frail patients. At 1-year follow-up, 20 patients died (3.6%). Chronic kidney disease was independently associated with 1-year all-cause death, although a trend towards higher mortality was observed in frail patients (HR = 3.01; 95% CI: 0.93-9.78; P = 0.065). Frailty was independently associated with higher 1-year all-cause mortality or all-cause rehospitalizations (HR = 2.23; 95% CI: 1.43-3.46; P < 0.001).

Conclusions: In older patients with NSTEACS, frailty independently associates higher all-cause mortality or all-cause hospital admissions at one-year follow-up.

Background: The diagnostic delay of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is known to be substantially long. A prolonged time from symptoms onset to diagnosis negatively impacts quality of life and life expectancy of the affected patients. We aim to describe the role of the incidental finding of amyloid deposits in prostatic tissue as an early marker of CA.

Methods: A systematic cardiological evaluation, comprising ECG, echocardiogram and 99mTc-DPD scintigraphy, was offered to a cohort of 19 patients with incidental prostatic amyloidosis (PA) findings, propectively detected between 2014-2023, to assess cardiac involvement.

Results: The median age of the patients was 80.2 years (IQR: 74.9 -82.6 years). Histopathological study revealed amyloid deposits within the walls of small vessels (predominantly small arteries) in 18 patients and mainly in the stroma in the remaining case. All of them were immunohistochemically positive for transthyretin (ATTR) except one patient, with known myeloma, which was unconclusive fo ATTR. Clonal dyscrasia was excluded in the rest of the patients. Thirteen patients (68.4%) underwent all cardiological tests, 4 patients (21.1%) underwent only ECG and echocardiographic evaluation and two patients (10.5%) refused to undergo any cardiological study. Among 13 individuals undergoing the complete evaluation, six patients were eventually diagnosed with CA (46.15%). All of them were asymptomatic from a cardiovascular point of view at the time of the prostate biopsy.

Conclusion: The finding of PA should prompt a complete cardiovascular examination, given the significant percentage of patients eventually diagnosed with early-stage CA. Multidisciplinary collaboration among different medical specialists must be encouraged, given the potential clinical impact of CA early diagnosis.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are undoubtedly the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Population aging is a global phenomenon. In developed countries, by the year 2050 one in four people will be aged 65+ years. This ongoing growth of the aging population leads to an increasing burden of CVD. The management of CVD in geriatric patients requires specific considerations. Aging is associated with complex pathophysiology due to decreased organ reserve, which is clinically described as frailty. Additionally, the aging population is extremely heterogenous and frequently characterized by a combination of unique features, including atypical disease presentation, multimorbidity, polypharmacy, altered pharmacokinetics, cognitive impairment, renal impairment, dysautonomia, elevated risk of falls, sarcopenia, and frailty. Furthermore, significant gaps in evidence exist largely due to the limited representation of the very elderly, and especially frail patients, in randomized controlled trials. When combined with issues related to life expectancy, goals of care, bioethics, and patients' preferences, these factors pose intricate challenges for healthcare providers. This literature review summarizes selected clinical scenarios that often introduce dilemmas in the management of elderly patients in cardiology practice, emphasizing the intersection of geriatric medicine and cardiology. These include blood pressure management, management of dyslipidemia, anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation, medical and device treatment of heart failure, antiplatelet and interventional management of acute coronary syndromes, and peri-procedural considerations in severe aortic stenosis. The above will provide guidance for clinical practice, as well as implications for health policies and future research in the field of geriatric cardiology.

Background: Recent studies have shown that sodium-glucose cotransporters-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors significantly improve major adverse cardiovascular events in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients, but the exact mechanism is unknown. Ferritinophagy is a special form of selective autophagy that participates in ferroptosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether ferritinophagy was activated during the occurrence of HFpEF, and whether canagliflozin (CANA) could inhibite ferritinophagy.

Methods: We reared Dahl salt-sensitive (DSS) rats on a high-salt diet to construct a hypertensive HFpEF model, and simultaneously administered CANA intervention. Then we detected indicators related to ferritinophagy.

Results: The expression of nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4), as well as microtubule-associated proteins light chain 3 (LC3), Bcl-2 interacting protein 1 (Beclin-1) and p62, were upregulated in HFpEF rats, accompanied by the downregulation of ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1), upregulation of mitochondrial iron transporter sideroflexin1 (SFXN1) and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Above changes were diminished by CANA.

Conclusion: Ferritinophagy is activated in HFpEF rats and then inhibited by CANA, leading to HFpEF benefits. The inhibition of ferritinophagy could provide new prospective targets for the prevention and treatment of HFpEF, and provide new ideas for investigating the mechanism of cardiovascular benefit of SGLT2 inhibitors.

Background: Data on drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment in elderly patients are limited. This study was to evaluate the efficacy of DCB treatment in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among elderly patients.

Methods: A retrospective analysis included 232 patients aged 75 years or older with coronary artery disease who underwent successful PCI using either DCB alone or in combination with drug-eluting stent (DES) based on pre-dilation results (DCB-based PCI). These patients were compared with 1818 elderly patients who underwent second-generation DES implantation (DES-only PCI). The endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) at 2-year follow-up.

Results: In the DCB-based PCI, 61.2% of patients received DCB-only treatment. Compared to DES-only PCI, the DCB-based PCI group had fewer stents (0.5 ± 0.7 and 1.7 ± 0.8, P < 0.001), shorter stent lengths (13.3 ± 20.9 mm and 37.4 ± 23.0 mm, P < 0.001), and lower usage of small stents with a diameter of 2.5 mm or less (15.6% and 28.7%, P = 0.010). The DCB-based PCI group exhibited lower rate of MACE (5.5% and 13.1%, P = 0.003), target vessel revascularization (1.1% and 5.6%, P = 0.017) and major bleeding (0.7% and 5.1%, P = 0.009) at 2-year follow-up. The reduced risk in 2-year MACE was consistently observed across various matching procedures, with the most significant reduction noted in target vessel revascularization and major bleeding.

Conclusion: The DCB-based PCI reduced stent burden, particularly in the usage of small diameter stents, and was associated with lower risks of MACE, target vessel revascularization, and major bleeding compared to DES-only PCI in elderly patients.