Improved prognosis after cardiac resynchronization therapy over a decade

Aims The past decade has seen an increased delivery of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for patients with heart failure (HF). We explored whether clinical outcomes after CRT have changed from the perspective of an entire public healthcare system. Methods and results A national database covering the population of England (56.3 million in 2019) was used to explore clinical outcomes after CRT from 2010 to 2019. A total of 64 698 consecutive patients (age 71.4 ± 11.7 years; 74.8% male) underwent CRT-defibrillation [n = 32 313 (49.7%)] or CRT-pacing [n = 32 655 (50.3%)] implantation. From 2010–2011 to 2018–2019, there was a 76% increase in CRT implantations. During the same period, the proportion of patients with hypertension (59.6–73.4%), diabetes (26.5–30.8%), and chronic kidney disease (8.62–22.5%) increased, as did the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI ≥ 3 from 20.0% to 25.1%) (all P < 0.001). Total mortality decreased at 30 days (1.43–1.09%) and 1 year (9.51–8.13%) after implantation (both P < 0.001). At 2 years, total mortality [hazard ratio (HR): 0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–0.76] and total mortality or HF hospitalization (HR: 0.59; 95% CI 0.57–0.62) decreased from 2010–2011 to 2018–2019, after correction for age, race, sex, device type (CRT-defibrillation or pacing), comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and myocardial infarction), or the CCI (HR: 0.81; 95% CI 0.77–0.85). Conclusions From the perspective of an entire public health system, survival has improved and HF hospitalizations have decreased after CRT implantation over the past decade. This prognostic improvement has occurred despite an increasing comorbidity burden

Timing of cardiac resynchronization therapy implantation

Aims The optimum timing of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantation is unknown. We explored long-term outcomes after CRT in relation to the time interval from a first heart failure hospitalization (HFH) to device implantation. .Methods A database covering the population of England (56.3 million in 2019) was used to quantify clinical outcomes after CRT im- and results plantation in relation to first HFHs. From 2010 to 2019, 64 968 patients [age: 71.4 ± 11.7 years; 48 606 (74.8%) male] underwent CRT implantation, 57% in the absence of a previous HFH, 12.9% during the first HFH, and 30.1% after ≥1 HFH. Over 4.54 (2.80–6.71) years [median (interquartile range); 272 989 person-years], the time in years from the first HFH to CRT implantation was associated with a higher risk of total mortality [hazard ratio (HR); 95% confidence intervals (95% CI)] (1.15; 95% CI 1.14–1.16, HFH (HR: 1.26; 95% CI 1.24–1.28), and the combined endpoint of total mortality or HFH (HR: 1.19; 95% CI 1.27–1.20) than CRT in patients with no previous HFHs, after co-variate adjustment. Total mortality (HR: 1.67), HFH (HR: 2.63), and total mortality or HFH (HR: 1.92) (all P < 0.001) were highest in patients undergoing CRT ≥2 years after the first HFH. Conclusion In this study of a healthcare system covering an entire nation, delays from a first HFH to CRT implantation were associated with progressively worse long-term clinical outcomes. The best clinical outcomes were observed in patients with no previous HFH and in those undergoing CRT implantation during the first HFH. Condensed The optimum timing of CRT implantation is unknown. In this study of 64 968 consecutive patients, delays from a first heart abstract failure hospitalization (HFH) to CRT implantation were associated with progressively worse long-term clinical outcomes. Each year from a first HFH to CRT implantation was associated with a 21% higher risk of total mortality and a 34% higher risk of HFH. The best outcomes after CRT were observed in patients with no previous HFHs and in those undergoing implantation during their first HFH. The left upper panel shows the timing (y-axis) and numbers (x-axis) of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantations in relation to the timing of first heart failure hospitalizations (HFHs); the right upper panel shows CRT implantations undertaken during a first HFH as a percentage of all implantations, according to year. Patients were regarded as not having had a HFH if this had not occurred within 5 years prior to CRT implantation. The left lower panel shows the Kaplan–Meier survival curve for total mortality. Event rates (per 100 person-years) for the three endpoints according to the timing of CRT implantation in relation to a first HFH are shown in the right lower panel

Functional outcomes of multi-condition collaborative care and successful ageing: results of randomised trial

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of integrated care for chronic physical diseases and depression in reducing disability and improving quality of life

Impact of call-to-balloon time on 30-day mortality in contemporary practice.

OBJECTIVE: Studies reporting an association between treatment delay and outcome for patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have generally not included patients treated by a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) service that systematically delivers reperfusion therapy to all eligible patients. We set out to determine the association of call-to-balloon (CTB) time with 30-day mortality after PPCI in a contemporary series of patients treated within a national reperfusion service. METHODS: We analysed data on 16 907 consecutive patients with STEMI treated by PPCI in England and Wales in 2011 with CTB time of ≤6 hours. RESULTS: The median CTB and door-to-balloon times were 111 and 41 min, respectively, with 80.9% of patients treated within 150 min of the call for help. An out-of-hours call time (58.2% of patients) was associated with a 10 min increase in CTB time, whereas inter-hospital transfer for PPCI (18.5% of patients) was associated with a 49 min increase in CTB time. CTB time was independently associated with 30-day mortality (p180-240 min compared with ≤90 min. The relationship between CTB time and 30-day mortality was influenced by patient risk profile with a greater absolute impact of increasing CTB time on mortality in high-risk patients. CONCLUSION: CTB time is a useful metric to assess the overall performance of a PPCI service. Delays to reperfusion remain important even in the era of organised national PPCI services with rapid treatment times and efforts should continue to minimise treatment delays

Trajectories of self-rated health in people with diabetes: Associations with functioning in a prospective community sample

© 2013 Schmitz et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Self-rated health (SRH) is a single-item measure that is one of the most widely used measures of general health in population health research. Relatively little is known about changes and the trajectories of SRH in people with chronic medical conditions. The aims of the present study were to identify and describe longitudinal trajectories of self-rated health (SRH) status in people with diabetes. Methods: A prospective community study was carried out between 2008 and 2011. SRH was assessed at baseline and yearly at follow-ups (n=1288). Analysis was carried out through trajectory modeling. The trajectory groups were subsequently compared at 4 years follow-up with respect to functioning. Results: Four distinct trajectories of SRH were identified: 1) 72.2% of the participants were assigned to a persistently good SRH trajectory; 2) 10.1% were assigned to a persistently poor SRH trajectory; 3) mean SRH scores changed from good to poor for one group (7.3%); while 4) mean SRH scores changed from poor to medium/good for another group (10.4%). Those with a persistently poor perception of health status were at higher risk for poor functioning at 4 years follow-up than those whose SRH scores decreased from good to poor. Conclusions: SRH is an important predictor for poor functioning in diabetes, but the trajectory of SRH seems to be even more important. Health professionals should pay attention to not only SRH per se, but also changes in SRH over time.This work was supported by Operating Grant MOP-84574 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). GG was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the CIHR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript