The Study of Adherence to Drug Therapy at the Stage of Outpatient Follow-up in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction (Data from the PROFIL-IM Registry)

Aim. To assess adherence  to the recommended therapy at the stage of outpatient follow-up and its impact on long-term outcomes  in patients after acute myocardial  infarction based on the materials of the prospective PROFILE-IM registry.Material and methods. The PROFILE-IM register included 160 patients who applied to one of the polyclinics in Moscow after a myocardial  infarction. The combined endpoint (CE) included death from any cause, cardiovascular events (nonfatal myocardial infarction,  nonfatal cerebral stroke), emergency hospitalizations for cardiovascular diseases, significant  cardiac arrhythmias. Patients' adherence to therapy was assessed using the original questionnaire "Scale of Adherence of the National Society of Evidence-based Pharmacotherapy" (NODF) and a direct standardized patient survey by a doctor about taking medications. Visits to the doctor were carried out every two months,  data from the first year of patient follow-up are presented.Results. In a personal  interview  with a doctor,  the ratio of the proportion  of committed, partially  committed  and non-committed patients  did not change  significantly over the entire follow-up period, while the proportion of committed patients was 81-85%. The "NODF Adherence Scale" showed that the proportion of non-committed patients was about 10 times higher than with direct patient responses to the doctor, and the proportion of non-committed  and partially committed  patients remained high at all stages of follow-up (respectively 28% and 10% at the beginning of the study, 18% and 10% at the end of the study).  Among the main factors  of non-commitment, there was a decrease  in the importance  of forgetfulness and an increase  in factors  such  as fear  of side effects  of medications, doubt  about  the need  for long-term use of medications  and  well-being. A  direct relationship of adherence with the male sex, the presence of hypertension, a feedback  relationship with alcohol consumption was revealed. The risk of CE in non-committed patients was higher compared  to the group of committed  and partially committed  patients (p<0.01).Conclusion. The proportion of non-committed and partially committed patients remained high at all stages of follow-up. There was a direct relationship between adherence to therapy with the male sex, the presence of hypertension in the anamnesis, and a feedback relationship with alcohol consumption. Low adherence to therapy significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular events

Assessment of the Quality of Drug Therapy in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease in the Second Stage of the ALIGN Study

Aim. To assess adjusted pharmacotherapy for prescribing drugs of the main classes, according to clinical guidelines, and achieving target levels of lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD).Material and methods. Of the 73 patients included in the ALIGN study, 64 patients (53 males and 11 females; mean age 68,2±9,4 years) with stable coronary artery disease attended a second visit (3 months after the initial treatment adjustment). Prescribed drug therapy, its compliance with clinical guidelines, achievement of lipid profile and blood pressure (BP) targets were studied in all patients.Results. An increase in the frequency of taking beta-blockers (p=0.002), lipid-lowering drugs (p=0.008) by patients was found during the second visit. The proportion of patients taking all 4 groups of drugs according to clinical guidelines (statins, antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors / angiotensin II receptor blockers) increased from 44% to 65.5% (p<0.001) after correction of therapy, as well as an increase in the proportion of patients taking 1 antianginal drug in the presence of exertional angina from 75% to 89% (p<0.001) was found. About 90% of hypertensive patients achieved the target level of systolic blood pressure (p<0.001). Achievement of the target level of cholesterol low density lipoprotein (<1.8 mmol/l) during the second visit was found in half of the patients (p=0.004).Conclusion. Despite the initial correction of drug therapy by the staff of the cardiology department, the prescribed treatment for patients with stable coronary artery disease did not in all cases comply with clinical guidelines due to insufficient adherence of doctors and insufficient adherence of patients to prescribed medical recommendations.Working group of the register PROFILE: Voronina V. P., Dmitrieva N. A., Komkova N. A., Zagrebelny A.V., Kutishenko N.P., Lerman O.V., Lukina Yu. V., Tolpygina S.N., Martsevich S.Yu

Secondary Prevention and Quality of Life of Patients with Stable Coronary Heart Disease

Aim. To assess the quality of life of patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) initially and 12 months after drug and non-drug secondary prophylaxis according to clinical guidelines.Material and methods. 73 patients (57 men, 16 women) with confirmed stable coronary artery disease were included in the study, of which 44 patients described a clinic for angina pectoris of functional class I-IV. The study included 2 patient visits: an initial treatment visit (V0) and a repeat visit after 12 months (V2). At both visits, blood pressure (BP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), quality of life (QL) were assessed using SAQ (Seattle Angina Questionnaire), drug therapy. Compliance with 5 basic principles of prevention was also assessed, which included: (1) healthy lifestyle (healthy lifestyle) (rejection of bad habits (smoking), moderate physical activity, lowcholesterol and low-carb diet); (2) normalization of body weight; (3) optimal drug therapy (the frequency of taking medications was evaluated using the original questionnaire); (4) achievement of target values of LDL-c in the entire group; (5) blood pressure in hypertensive patients. During V0, if necessary, drug therapy was adjusted in accordance with clinical recommendations. During V2, 57 patients (47 men and 10 women) were examined. The response was 80.8%.Results. After 12 months of follow-up, a statistically significant improvement in exercise tolerance (p=0.003), angina stability index (p=0.045) and the frequency of stress angina attacks (p=0.003) was noted when assessing the median of QL indicators. After 12 months of follow-up, 59% of patients used optimal drug therapy, including 4 drugs according to clinical guidelines. A healthy lifestyle (regular physical activity and smoking cessation) was achieved in 20.4% after 12 months of follow-up, the target level of LDL-c ˂ 1.8 mmol/L was achieved in 44.5% of patients, and the target blood pressure was achieved in 74,6%. The achievement of all 5 principles of secondary prevention of coronary heart disease according to the results of the work carried out by the visit after 12 months of follow-up was revealed only in 7% of patients (4 patients), and the implementation of 4 principles of prevention was noted in a quarter of patients from the group (24.5%, n=14).Conclusions. With drug and non-drug secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in patients with stable CHD after a year of follow-up, a statistically significant increase in QL indicators was noted due to increased exercise tolerance and a decrease in the frequency of angina attacks. Nevertheless, the basic principles of prevention were fully implemented only in 7% of patients

Study of the Quality of Medical Therapy and Adherence in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure (According to the COMPLIANCE Study)

Aim. Assess the medical therapy quality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and patients' adherence to the treatment depending on the previous observation in a specialized medical center as part of an of an outpatient registry.Materials and methods. An analysis of the medical therapy quality in patients with CHF was carried out as part of the COMPLIANCE prospective observational study (NCT04262583). 72 patients with CHF verified according to the protocol were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 69.1±9.5 years (31% of women and 69% of men). Patients were divided into groups: those who first applied to a specialized department during the period of the study inclusion, or those who were previously observed in a specialized department. The general adherence assessment to medical therapy was carried out using the original questionnaire «The adherence scale of the National Society for Evidence-Based Pharmacotherapy» which was supplemented with questions to assess the actual adherence to specific medical drugs recommended for patients with CHF.Results. According to the results of the study, beta-blockers were prescribed to 70 (97.2%) patients. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi)/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were recommended in 68 (94%) patients. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists were included in therapy in 6 out of 9 patients who were shown to be prescribed (66.6%). The choice of medical drugs within the group was not always adequate. For example, ACEi/ARBs with proven efficacy in patients with CHF were prescribed only in 72% of patients. Comparative analysis of adherence to medical therapy between patients of the selected groups demonstrated a higher adherence to the recommended therapy in patients who were previously observed in a specialized center.Conclusion. The medical therapy quality for patients with CHF doesn't always comply with current clinical guidelines. The choice of a medical drug within a group is not always adequate. Regular observation in a specialized center contributes to a higher adherence to the recommended therapy

Detection and Treatment of Hyperuricemia in Clinical Practice (According to the PROFILE Outpatient Registry)

Aim. To study the frequency of detection of hyperuricemia (HU) in patients with high and very high cardiovascular risk and the frequency of prescribing drugs that lower serum uric acid (sUA) levels in real clinical practice.Material and methods: The general information of the study was based on the data of 2457 patients who were consistently included in the «PROFILE» registry until November 30, 2020: 1250 men (50.9%) and 1207 (49.1%) women. All patients with HU were selected (UA level ≥360 pmol/l in women, ≥420 pmol/l in men). At the stage of inclusion of the patient, data on MC indicators were available in 1777 (72.3%), upon re-examination - only 262 (33.2%) out of 790 patients who returned to the appointment.Results: The most common study of the level of sUA was performed in patients with gout (65.2%), with arterial hypertension (AH) and dyslipemia in 29.1% of cases, with diabetes mellitus (DM) - 30.1%, with impaired tolerance to glucose (IGT) - 40.2%, with other diseases, the proportion of patients with a known UA was even less. A positive relationship was found between the presence of AH and IGT with the frequency of UA control (p<0.001). In patients with AH, an increase in the level of sUA was detected significantly more often than in patients without AH (p<0.001), and less frequently in patients with DM and IGT (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively). The frequency of allopurinol prescribing was low: 49 (2%) patients received therapy, while of the 284 patients with HU, only 20 (7%) were prescribed allopurinol.Conclusion: in real clinical practice, only 29.1% of patients with AH and 20-25% of patients with other CVDs were monitored for sUA levels, every third patient had data on sUA levels at a repeat visit. In the presence of gout, the proportion of patients with current UA was higher (65%). For those with AH and IGT, positive correlations were found between the presence of the disease and control of sUA levels. A low frequency of prescribing drugs for the correction of HU was revealed

Challenges of Statin Therapy in Clinical Practice (According to Outpatient Register «PROFILE» Data)

Aim. To identify the main problems of statin therapy in patients with high and very high cardiovascular (CV) risk in real clinical practice.Material and methods. The general information of the study was based on data from 2,457 patients who were included in the register before November 30, 2020: 1,250 men (50.9%) and 1,207 (49.1%) women. A more detailed analysis was performed for groups of patients with high          and very high CV risk who had indications for statin treatment at the time of inclusion in the register: out of 2457 patients, 1166 people had very high CV risk, 395 was at high CV risk (a total of 1561 people, the average age of patients was 64.4±11.0 years).Results. Information on the parameters of the lipidogram – the level of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was available in 1918 (78.1%) and 1546 (62.9%) patients, respectively. Of 1561 patients with high and very high CV risk, TC and LDL-C levels were analyzed in 1221 (78.2%) and 956 (61.2%) cases, statistically significantly more often in patients with high CV risk (p<0.05). Statins were recommended only to 823 (52.7%) patients with high and very high CV risk. Patients with very high CV risk received such appointments 4 times more often than patients with high CV risk: odds ratio (OR) 4.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.2-5.3 (p<0.001). Doctors preferred atorvastatin in prescriptions (n=456, 55.4%), rosuvastatin (n=244, 29.7%) and simvastatin (n=121, 14.7%) were in second and third places. The target level of LDLC was 2 times more often achieved in patients with high CVR, compared with patients with very high CV risk: OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.4-3.0 (p<0.001).Conclusion. The main problems of statin treatment in real clinical practice remain the non-assignment of these drugs to patients who have indications for such therapy and the failure to achieve the target levels of lipidogram indicators, which may probably be due to the clinical inertia of doctors regarding titration of statin doses, and in some cases caused by the choice of drugs that are not the most effective in reducing LDL cholesterol. Patients with very high CV risk are 4 times more likely to receive a recommendation to take statins compared to patients with high CV risk, but the target level of LDL cholesterol is reached in them 2 times less often

Long-term survival of patients with cerebrovascular accident in different age groups in the REGION-M registry

Aim. To study the two-year survival rate of patients with cerebrovascular accident (CVA) in different age groups.Material and methods. The outpatient part of the REGION-M registry included 684 patients assigned to the City Polyclinic № 64 in Moscow, discharged from the F. I. Inozemtsev City Clinical Hospital (Moscow) in the period from January 1, 2012 to April 30, 2017 with a confirmed diagnosis of stroke or transient ischemic attack. All patients were divided into 5 age groups: group 1 — from 18 to 50 years old (n=72 (10,5%)), group 2 — from 51 to 60 years old (n=122 (17,8%)), group 3 — from 61 to 70 years old (n=156 (22,8%)), group 4 — from 71 to 80 years old (n=185 (27,0%)) and group 5 — 81 years and above (n=149 (21,8%)). Patient survival was assessed after 2 years of follow-up.Results. The mortality rate of patients during the follow-up period significantly increased with age as follows: in patients of 18-50 years old — 4%, 51-60 years old — 9,8%, 61-70 years old — 23,7%, 71-80 years old — 34%, 81-100 years old — 55% (p<0,0001). The relative death risk was 2,3 in group 2 (NA), 6,8 in group 3 (p<0,001), 9,8 in group 4 (p<0,0001) and 18,5 in group 5 (p<0,0001) compared with group 1. With increasing age in the study cohort, the proportion of women increased as follows: from 47,2% in group 1 to 77,9% in group 5 (p<0,0001). However, mortality among men and women in the groups did not differ. Patients in older age groups were more likely to have comorbidities and disability before the CVA. With increasing age, ischemic stroke was significantly more common and transient ischemic attack was less common (p<0,001).Conclusion. Mortality of patients who underwent stroke was significantly higher in older age groups and did not differ among men and women

Long-term outcomes in patients after COVID-19: data from the TARGET-VIP registry

Aim. To assess long-term outcomes within 12 months after hospital treatment of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as part of a prospective registry.Material and methods. Outcomes in the posthospital period were assessed in 827 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 (age, 58,0±14,8 years; men, 51,3%). For periods of 30-60 days, 6 and 12 months after discharge from the hospital, cases of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, hospitalization, acute respiratory viral infections/influenza were assessed. The follow-up period was 13,0±1,5 months.Results. During the follow-up period, 35 (4,2%) patients died, 6 (0,73%) and 4 (0,48%) cases of MI and stroke were registered. In addition, 142 (17%) patients were hospitalized, while 217 (26,2%) patients had acute respiratory viral infections/ influenza. Factors of age and length of intensive care unit stay were significantly associated (p<0,001) with the risk of all-cause death (hazard ratio (HR)=1,085 per 1 year of life and HR=6,98, respectively), with the risk of composite endpoint (death, non-fatal MI and stroke): HR=1,081 per 1 year of life and HP=4,47. Of the 35 deaths, 11 (31%) were within the first 30 days of follow-up, and 19 (54%) — 90 days after discharge from the hospital. A higher probability of hospitalization was associated with older age (odds ratio (OR)=1,038; p<0,001), while a higher probability of acute respiratory viral infections/influenza was associated with younger age (OR=0,976 per 1 year of life; p<0,001) and female sex (OR=1,414; p=0,03).Conclusion. A prospective follow-up of 827 patients in the TARGET-VIP registry revealed that 12-month mortality was 4,2%, while more than half of the deaths (54%) were registered in the first 90 days, including 31% — for the first month after discharge from the hospital. The most common events were hospitalizations (17,0%) and acute respiratory viral infections/influenza (26,2%), while the rarest were myocardial infarction (0,73%) and stroke (0,48%). The key factors associated with 12-month mortality in the post-COVID-19 period were older age and intensive care unit stay during the reference hospitalization. A higher readmission rate during the follow-up period was associated with older age, and the prevalence of acute respiratory viral infections /influenza during the follow-up period was associated with younger patients and female sex

Prehospital Period in Patients with COVID-19: Cardiovascular Comorbidity and Pharmacotherapy During the First Epidemic Wave (Hospital Registry Data)

Aim. Based on the data from the register of patients with COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), analyze the duration of the prehospital period, cardiovascular comorbidity and the quality of prehospital pharmacotherapy of concomitant cardiovascular diseases (CVD).Material and methods. Patients were included to the study which admitted to the FSBI "NMHC named after N.I. Pirogov" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and/or CAP. The data for prehospital therapy, information from medical histories and a patients’survey in the hospital or by telephone contact 1-2 weeks after discharge were study. The duration of the prehospital stage was determined from the date of the appearance of clinical symptoms of coronavirus infection to the date of hospitalization.Results. The average age of the patients (n=1130; 579 [51.2%] men and 551 [48.8%] women) was 57.5±12.8 years. The prehospital stage was 7 (5,0; 10,0) days and did not differ significantly in patients with the presence and absence of CVD, but was significantly less in the deceased than in the surviving patients, as well as in those who required artificial lung ventilation (ALV). 583 (51.6%) patients had at least one CVD. Cardiovascular comorbidity was registered in 222 (42.7%) patients with hypertension, 210 (95.5%) patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), 104 (91.2%) patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The inclusion of non-cardiac chronic diseases in the analysis led to an increase in the total proportion of patients with concomitant diseases to 65.8%. Approximately a quarter of hypertensive patients did not receive antihypertensive therapy, a low proportion of patients receiving antiplatelet agents and statins for CHD was revealed – 53% and 31.8%, respectively, anticoagulants for AF – 50.9%.Conclusion. The period from the onset of symptoms to hospitalization was significantly shorter in the deceased than in the surviving patients, as well as in those who required ALV. The proportion of people with a history of at least one CVD was about half of the entire cohort of patients. In patients with CVD before COVID-19 disease, a low frequencies of prescribing antihypertensive drugs, statins, antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants (in patients with AF) were recorded at the prehospital stage

Clinical and Anamnestic Characteristics, Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy and Long-term Outcomes in Multimorbid Patients after COVID-19

Aim. To study the clinical and anamnestic characteristics, pharmacotherapy of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and long-term outcomes in post-COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular multimorbidity (CVMM), enrolled in the prospective hospital registry.Material and methods. In patients with confirmed COVID-19 included in the TARGET-VIP registry, the CVMM criterion was the presence of two or more CVDs: arterial hypertension (AH), coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic heart failure (CHF), atrial fibrillation (AF). There were 163 patients in the CVMM group and 382 – in the group without CVD. The information was obtained initially from hospital history sheet, and afterwards – from a telephone survey of patients after 30-60 days, 6 and 12 months, from electronic databases. The follow-up period was 13.0±1.5 months.Results. The age of post-COVID patients with CVMM was 73.7±9.6 years, without CVD – 49.4±12.4 years (p<0.001), the proportion of men was 53.9% and 58.4% (p=0.34). In the group with CVMM the majority of patients had AH (92.3-93.3%), CHD (90.4-91.4%), and minority – CHF (42.7-46.0%) and AF (42.9-43.4%). The combination of 3-4 CVDs prevailed (58.9-60.3%). The proportion of cases of chronic non-cardiac pathologies was higher in the CVMM group (80.9%) compared to the group without CVD (36.7%; p<0.001). The frequency of proper cardiovascular pharmacotherapy during the follow-up period decreased from 56.8% to 51.3% (p for trend = 0.18). The frequency of anticoagulant therapy in AF decreased significantly: from 89.1% at the discharge from the hospital to 56.4% after 30-60 days (p=0.001), 57.1% and 53.6% after 6 and 12 months of monitoring (p for a trend <0.001). There were no other significant changes in the frequency of other kinds of the proper cardiovascular pharmacotherapy (p>0.05). There were higher rate of all-cause mortality among patients with CMMM (12.9% vs 2.9%, p<0.001) as well as rates of hospitalization (34.7% and 9.9%, p<0.001) and non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) – 2.5% vs 0.5% (p=0.048). The proportion of new cases of CVD in the groups with CVMM and without CVD was 5.5% and 3.7% (p=0.33). The incidence of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI)/influenza was higher in the group without CVD – 28.3% vs 19.0% (p=0.02). The proportion of cases of recurrent COVID-19 in groups with CVMM and without CVD was 3.7 % and 1.8% (p=0.19).Conclusion. Post COVID-19 patients with CVMM were older and had the bigger number of chronic non-cardiac diseases than patients without CVD. The quality of cardiovascular pharmacotherapy in patients with CVMM was insufficient at the discharge from the hospital with following non-significant decrease during 12 months of follow-up. The frequency of anticoagulant therapy in AF decreased by 1.6 times after 30-60 days and by 1.7 times during the year of follow-up. The proportion of new cases of CVD was 5.5% and 3.7% with no significant differences between compared groups. The rate of all-cause mortality, hospitalizations and non-fatal MI was significantly higher in patients with CVMM, but the frequency of ARVI/influenza was significantly higher in patients without CVD. Recurrent COVID-19 was registered in 3.7% and 1.8% of cases, there were no significant differences between compared groups