Impact of clinical phenotypes on management and outcomes in European atrial fibrillation patients: a report from the ESC-EHRA EURObservational Research Programme in AF (EORP-AF) General Long-Term Registry

Background: Epidemiological studies in atrial fibrillation (AF) illustrate that clinical complexity increase the risk of major adverse outcomes. We aimed to describe European AF patients\u2019 clinical phenotypes and analyse the differential clinical course. Methods: We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward\u2019s Method and Squared Euclidean Distance using 22 clinical binary variables, identifying the optimal number of clusters. We investigated differences in clinical management, use of healthcare resources and outcomes in a cohort of European AF patients from a Europe-wide observational registry. Results: A total of 9363 were available for this analysis. We identified three clusters: Cluster 1 (n = 3634; 38.8%) characterized by older patients and prevalent non-cardiac comorbidities; Cluster 2 (n = 2774; 29.6%) characterized by younger patients with low prevalence of comorbidities; Cluster 3 (n = 2955;31.6%) characterized by patients\u2019 prevalent cardiovascular risk factors/comorbidities. Over a mean follow-up of 22.5 months, Cluster 3 had the highest rate of cardiovascular events, all-cause death, and the composite outcome (combining the previous two) compared to Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 (all P <.001). An adjusted Cox regression showed that compared to Cluster 2, Cluster 3 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27\u20133.62; HR 3.42, 95%CI 2.72\u20134.31; HR 2.79, 95%CI 2.32\u20133.35), and Cluster 1 (HR 1.88, 95%CI 1.48\u20132.38; HR 2.50, 95%CI 1.98\u20133.15; HR 2.09, 95%CI 1.74\u20132.51) reported a higher risk for the three outcomes respectively. Conclusions: In European AF patients, three main clusters were identified, differentiated by differential presence of comorbidities. Both non-cardiac and cardiac comorbidities clusters were found to be associated with an increased risk of major adverse outcomes

Digital hypoperfusion ischemic syndrome in the patients with transposition of the basilic vein

Transposition veins, in some cases when there is no adequate superficial veins, preferred is model of the vascular access. This approach may be acceptable version vascular access where is not possible to create other shapes. But basilic vein transposition is time consuming and technically challenging procedure with significant perioperative morbidity. Complication rate for basilic vein transposition remains high at 47-71%. We report a patient who underwent transposition basilic vein, and its anastomosis with radial artery, in which developed the digital hypoperfusion ischemic syndrome

Eco-labelling of marine recreation services: the case of Blue Flag price premium in Croatia

Eco-labels or eco-certifications communicate to the public and tourists that a business is employing one or more environmentally friendly practices. A successful label provides incentives for industry to participate by allowing for further product differentiation, leading to increased price premia. This paper examines whether the Blue Flag eco-label has a positive influence on prices of tourism services associated with marinas and beaches in coastal Croatia. For this purpose, panel data regression models are employed, and they explicitly address endogeneity of the eco-label variable arising from selection of firms adopting the label. Treatment effects and instrumental variables specifications are estimated, and results suggest positive impacts of the Blue Flag label on marina slip rental, sailboat charter, and hotel services, with price premia ranging between 18% and 72%. These results may be of use to businesses, governmental, and non-governmental organisations interested in pursuing such certification