Polypill Eligibility for Patients with Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction in South India: A Secondary Analysis of a Prospective, Interrupted Time Series Study.

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Effect of a Quality Improvement Intervention on Clinical Outcomes in Patients in India With Acute Myocardial Infarction: The ACS QUIK Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Wide heterogeneity exists in acute myocardial infarction treatment and outcomes in India. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a locally adapted quality improvement tool kit on clinical outcomes and process measures in Kerala, a southern Indian state. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cluster randomized, stepped-wedge clinical trial conducted between November 10, 2014, and November 9, 2016, in 63 hospitals in Kerala, India, with a last date of follow-up of December 31, 2016. During 5 predefined steps over the study period, hospitals were randomly selected to move in a 1-way crossover from the control group to the intervention group. Consecutively presenting patients with acute myocardial infarction were offered participation. Interventions: Hospitals provided either usual care (control group; n = 10 066 participants [step 0: n = 2915; step 1: n = 2649; step 2: n = 2251; step 3: n = 1422; step 4; n = 829; step 5: n = 0]) or care using a quality improvement tool kit (intervention group; n = 11 308 participants [step 0: n = 0; step 1: n = 662; step 2: n = 1265; step 3: n = 2432; step 4: n = 3214; step 5: n = 3735]) that consisted of audit and feedback, checklists, patient education materials, and linkage to emergency cardiovascular care and quality improvement training. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the composite of all-cause death, reinfarction, stroke, or major bleeding using standardized definitions at 30 days. Secondary outcomes included the primary outcome's individual components, 30-day cardiovascular death, medication use, and tobacco cessation counseling. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to account for clustering and temporal trends. Results: Among 21 374 eligible randomized participants (mean age, 60.6 [SD, 12.0] years; n = 16 183 men [76%] ; n = 13 689 [64%] with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction), 21 079 (99%) completed the trial. The primary composite outcome was observed in 5.3% of the intervention participants and 6.4% of the control participants. The observed difference in 30-day major adverse cardiovascular event rates between the groups was not statistically significant after adjustment (adjusted risk difference, -0.09% [95% CI, -1.32% to 1.14%]; adjusted odds ratio, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.80-1.21]). The intervention group had a higher rate of medication use including reperfusion but no effect on tobacco cessation counseling. There were no unexpected adverse events reported. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with acute myocardial infarction in Kerala, India, use of a quality improvement intervention compared with usual care did not decrease a composite of 30-day major adverse cardiovascular events. Further research is needed to understand the lack of efficacy. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02256657

One-year clinical outcome of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: Insights from KERALA-AF registry.

BackgroundWe report patient characteristics, treatment pattern and one-year clinical outcome of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) from Kerala, India. This cohort forms part of Kerala Atrial Fibrillation (KERALA-AF) registry which is an ongoing large prospective study.MethodsKERALA-AF registry collected data of adults with previously or newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) during April 2016 to April 2017. A total of 3421 patients were recruited from 53 hospitals across Kerala state. We analysed one-year follow-up outcome of 2507 patients with NVAF.ResultsMean age at recruitment was 67.2 years (range 18-98) and 54.8% were males. Main co-morbidities were hypertension (61.2%), hyperlipidaemia (46.2%) and diabetes mellitus (37.2%). Major co-existing diseases were chronic kidney disease (42.1%), coronary artery disease (41.6%), and chronic heart failure (26.4%). Mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.18 (SD ± 1.7) and HAS-BLED score, 1.84 (SD ± 1.3). At baseline, use of oral anticoagulants (OAC) was 38.6% and antiplatelets 32.7%. On one-month follow-up use of OAC increased to 65.8% and antiplatelets to 48.3%. One-year all-cause mortality was 16.48 and hospitalization 20.65 per 100 person years. The main causes of death were cardiovascular (75.0%), stroke (13.1%) and others (11.9%). The major causes of hospitalizations were acute coronary syndrome (35.0%), followed by arrhythmia (29.5%) and heart failure (8.4%).ConclusionsDespite high risk profile of patients in this registry, use of OAC was suboptimal, whereas antiplatelets were used in nearly half of patients. A relatively high rate of annual mortality and hospitalization was observed in patients with NVAF in Kerala AF Registry

Kerala acute heart failure registry—Rationale, design and methods

Heart failure (HF) is recognized as a major public health problem in both the low and high- income countries. However, data are scarce on the burden, prevailing practice patterns and long-term health outcomes of HF patients in India. The Kerala heart failure registry (KHFR) is a multi-centric, prospective, and hospital based registry in Kerala, India. Consecutive patients admitted with the diagnosis of acute heart failure satisfying the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) criteria will be enrolled in the registry. Data on demographic, clinical, laboratory, imaging, other diagnostics and therapeutic approaches employed and the usage of guideline based medical therapy will be collected as part of the registry. Additionally, all registered patients will be followed-up regularly at 1-month, and thereafter at every 3-months. Both mortality and hospital admission data will be collected during the follow-up visits. We will be recruiting 7500 HF patients in the KHFR. Once completed, KFHR is going to be the largest HF registry in India. We will validate a HF mortality risk score developed based on a previously conducted Trivandrum Heart Failure Registry in the KHFR patients. Keywords: Heart failure, Registry, Coronary artery disease, Cardiomyopathy, Guideline directed medical therap

Impact of COVID-19 on heart failure hospitalization and outcome in India – A cardiological society of India study (CSI–HF in COVID 19 times study – “The COVID C–HF study”)

Objectives: The presentation and outcomes of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) during COVID times (June 2020 to Dec 2020) were compared with the historical control during the same period in 2019. Methods: Data of 4806 consecutive patients of acute HF admitted in 22 centres in the country were collected during this period. The admission patterns, aetiology, outcomes, prescription of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) and interventions were analysed in this retrospective study. Results: Admissions for acute heart failure during the pandemic period in 2020 decreased by 20% compared to the corresponding six-month period in 2019, with numbers dropping from 2675 to 2131. However, no difference in the epidemiology was seen. The mean age of presentation in 2019 was 61.75 (±13.7) years, and 59.97 (±14.6) years in 2020. There was a significant decrease in the mean age of presentation (p = 0.001). Also. the proportion of male patients decreased significantly from 68.67% to 65.84% (p = 0.037). The in-hospital mortality for acute heart failure did not differ significantly between 2019 and 2020 (4.19% and 4.,97%) respectively (p = 0.19). The proportion of patients with HFrEF did not change in 2020 compared to 2019 (76.82% vs 75.74%, respectively). The average duration of hospital stay was 6.5 days. Conclusion: The outcomes of ADHF patients admitted during the Covid pandemic did not differ significantly. The length of hospital stay remained the same. The study highlighted the sub-optimal use of GDMT, though slightly improving over the last few years