Thinking Outside the Box: Treating Acute Heart Failure Outside the Hospital to Improve Care and Reduce Admissions.

The management of acute heart failure is shifting toward treatment approaches outside of a traditional hospital setting. Many heart failure providers are now treating patients in less familiar health care settings, such as acute care clinics, emergency departments, and skilled nursing facilities. In this review we describe the current pressures driving change in the delivery of acute heart failure and summarize the evidence regarding treatments for acute heart failure outside of the inpatient setting. We also provide considerations for the design of future treatment strategies to be implemented in alternative care settings

Anticoagulation and clinical outcomes in heart failure patients with atrial fibrillation: Findings from the ADHERE registry

The risks and benefits of anticoagulation for patients with both heart failure and atrial fibrillation are unclear. We hypothesized that anticoagulation was associated with improved clinical outcomes of heart failure patients with atrial fibrillation independent of other risk factors. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of clinical registry data linked to Medicare claims for new users of oral anticoagulation (warfarin) without contraindications, discharged home alive, and stratified by CHADS2 score. Outcomes of interest were propensity score-adjusted estimates of the effects of warfarin at discharge on all-cause mortality, thromboembolic events, major adverse cardiovascular events, and bleeding events. Among 10,494 patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation, the 2249 patients newly treated with warfarin had lower 1-year mortality (27.7% vs 39.3% for CHADS2 score ≤ 3 [P < .001]; 31.6% vs 41.8% for CHADS2 score > 3 [P < .001]) than patients not treated with warfarin. There was no significant difference in thromboembolic events, major adverse cardiovascular events, or bleeding events at 1 year. After multivariate adjustment, exposed individuals in both CHADS2 subgroups had lower adjusted 1-year mortality (CHADS2 ≤ 3: hazard ratio, 0.78 [95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.89]; CHADS 2 > 3: 0.78 [0.66-0.93]). In conclusion, warfarin use in heart failure patients with atrial fibrillation was associated with improved survival at 1 year independent of baseline CHADS2 score. However, there was no significant reduction in clinical events, such as thromboembolic or major adverse cardiovascular events at 1 year that might simply explain the survival benefit associated with warfarin

Text2PreventCVD: protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of text message-based interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Introduction Text message interventions have been shown to be effective in prevention and management of several non-communicable disease risk factors. However, the extent to which their effects might vary in different participants and settings is uncertain. We aim to conduct a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials examining text message interventions aimed to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVD) through modification of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs). Methods and analysis Systematic review and IPD meta-analysis will be conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and MetaAnalysis of IPD (PRISMA-IPD) guidelines. Electronic database of published studies (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library) and international trial registries will be searched to identify relevant randomised clinical trials. Authors of studies meeting the inclusion criteria will be invited to join the IPD meta-analysis group and contribute study data to the common database. The primary outcome will be the difference between intervention and control groups in blood pressure at 6-month follow-up. Key secondary outcomes include effects on lipid parameters, body mass index, smoking levels and self-reported quality of life. If sufficient data is available, we will also analyse blood pressure and other secondary outcomes at 12 months. IPD meta-analysis will be performed using a one-step approach and modelling data simultaneously while accounting for the clustering of the participants within studies. This study will use the existing data to assess the effectiveness of text message-based interventions on CVRFs, the consistency of any effects by participant subgroups and across different healthcare settings. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained for the individual studies by the trial investigators from relevant local ethics committees. This study will include anonymised data for secondary analysis and investigators will be asked to check that this is consistent with their existing approvals. Results will be disseminated via scientific forums including peer-reviewed publications and presentations at international conferences.</p

Ventricular conduction and long-term heart failure outcomes and mortality in African Americans: insights from the Jackson Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: QRS prolongation is associated with adverse outcomes in mostly white populations, but its clinical significance is not well established for other groups. We investigated the association between QRS duration and mortality in African Americans. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed data from 5146 African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study stratified by QRS duration on baseline 12-lead ECG. We defined QRS prolongation as QRS≥100 ms. We assessed the association between QRS duration and all-cause mortality using Cox proportional hazards models and reported the cumulative incidence of heart failure hospitalization. We identified factors associated with the development of QRS prolongation in patients with normal baseline QRS. At baseline, 30% (n=1528) of participants had QRS prolongation. The cumulative incidences of mortality and heart failure hospitalization were greater with versus without baseline QRS prolongation: 12.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.0-14.4) versus 7.1% (95% CI, 6.3-8.0) and 8.2% (95% CI, 6.9-9.7) versus 4.4% (95% CI, 3.7-5.1), respectively. After risk adjustment, QRS prolongation was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03-1.56; P=0.02). There was a linear relationship between QRS duration and mortality (hazard ratio per 10 ms increase, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.12). Older age, male sex, prior myocardial infarction, lower ejection fraction, left ventricular hypertrophy, and left ventricular dilatation were associated with the development of QRS prolongation. CONCLUSIONS: QRS prolongation in African Americans was associated with increased mortality and heart failure hospitalization. Factors associated with developing QRS prolongation included age, male sex, prior myocardial infarction, and left ventricular structural abnormalities