'Emerge' : benchmarking of clinical performance and patients experiences with emergency care in Switzerland

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)Objective: To assess the effects of uniform indicator measurement and group benchmarking followed by hospital-specific activities on clinical performance measures and patients’ experiences with emergency care in Switzerland. Design: Data were collected in a pre-post design in two measurement cycles, before and after implementation of improvement activities. Trained hospital staff recorded patient characteristics and clinical performance data. Patients completed a questionnaire after discharge/transfer from the emergency unit. Setting: Emergency departments of 12 community hospitals in Switzerland, participating in the ‘Emerge’ project. Subjects: Eligible patients were entered into the study (18 544 in total: 9174 and 9370 in the first and second cycles, respectively), and 2916 and 3370 patients returned the questionnaire in the first and second measurement cycles, respectively (response rates 32% and 36%, respectively). Main outcome measures: Clinical performance measures (concordance of prospective and retrospective assessment of urgency of care needs, and time intervals between sequences of events) and patients’ reports about care provision in emergency departments (EDs), measured by a 22-item, self-administered questionnaire. Results: Concordance of prospective and retrospective assignments to one of three urgency categories improved significantly by 1%, and both under- and over-prioritization, were reduced. The median duration between ED admission and documentation of post-ED disposition fell from 137 minutes in 2001 to 130 minutes in 2002 (P < 0.001). Significant improvements in the reports provided by patients were achieved in 10 items, and were mainly demonstrated in structures of care provision and perceived humanity. Conclusion: Undertaken in a real-world setting, small but significant improvements in performance measures and patients’ perceptions of emergency care could be achieved. Hospitals accomplished these improvements mainly by averting strong outliers, and were most successful in preventing series of negative events. Uniform outcomes measurement, group benchmarking, and data-driven hospital-specific strategies for change are suggested as valuable tools for continuous improvement. Several hospitals have already implemented the developed measures in their internal quality systems and subsequent measurements are projected

Socioeconomic status, blood pressure progression, and incident hypertension in a prospective cohort of female health professionals

Aims The aim of this study was to examine the association between socioeconomic status, blood pressure (BP) progression, and incident hypertension. Methods and results We included 27 207 female health professionals free of hypertension and cardiovascular disease at baseline. Participants were classified into five education and six income categories. The main outcome variables were BP progression at 48 months of follow-up and incident hypertension during the entire study period. At 48 months, 48.1% of women had BP progression. The multivariable adjusted relative risks [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] for BP progression were 1.0 (referent), 0.96 (0.92-1.00), 0.92 (0.88-0.96), 0.90 (0.85-0.94), and 0.84 (0.78-0.91) (P for trend <0.0001) across increasing education categories and 1.0 (referent), 1.01 (0.94-1.08), 0.99 (0.93-1.06), 0.97 (0.91-1.04), 0.96 (0.90-1.03), and 0.89 (0.83-0.96) across increasing income categories (P for trend = 0.0001). During a median follow-up of 9.8 years, 8248 cases of incident hypertension occurred. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) were 1.0 (referent), 0.92 (0.86-0.99), 0.85 (0.79-0.92), 0.87 (0.80-0.94), and 0.74 (0.65-0.84) (P for trend <0.0001) across increasing education categories and 1.0 (referent), 1.07 (0.95-1.21), 1.07 (0.95-1.20), 1.06 (0.94-1.18), 1.04 (0.93-1.16), and 0.93 (0.82-1.06) (P for trend 0.08) across increasing income categories. In joint analyses, education but not income remained associated with BP progression and incident hypertension. Conclusion Socioeconomic status, as determined by education but not by income, is a strong independent predictor of BP progression and incident hypertension in wome

Global Psychological Distress and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Among Women: The Women's Health Study

Background Symptoms of psychological distress and depression have been associated with risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Their relationship with atrial arrhythmias, however, is less well studied. Methods and Results We sought to assess the long-term relations between psychological distress and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Women's Health Study of female health professionals. We measured psychological symptoms with the Mental Health Inventory-5. Incident AF was assessed annually and verified through medical records. Among 30 746 women without history of cardiovascular disease or AF, 771 cases of AF occurred during a median follow-up of 125 months (interquartile range, 117–130 months). Global psychological distress was not associated with AF risk in age-stratified (P=0.61 for linear trend) or multivariable proportional-hazards models that included antidepressant use (P=0.34). A proxy measure for depression, consisting of Mental Health Inventory-5 score <53, antidepressant use, or both, was also not associated with AF risk in multivariable models (hazard ratio=0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–1.25; P=0.93). In post hoc analyses of individual symptoms from the Mental Health Inventory-5, positive affect, “feeling happy some/a good bit of the time,” was associated with reduced risk of AF (hazard ratio=0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.49–0.99; P=0.04); other depressive and anxious symptoms were not. Conclusions In this prospective study of women without known cardiovascular disease, global psychological distress and specific depressive symptoms were unrelated to AF risk

Novel genetic markers improve measures of atrial fibrillation risk prediction

Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with adverse outcome. Whether recently discovered genetic risk markers improve AF risk prediction is unknown. Methods and results We derived and validated a novel AF risk prediction model from 32 possible predictors in the Women's Health Study (WHS), a cohort of 20 822 women without cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline followed prospectively for incident AF (median: 14.5 years). We then created a genetic risk score (GRS) comprised of 12 risk alleles in nine loci and assessed model performance in the validation cohort with and without the GRS. The newly derived WHS AF risk algorithm included terms for age, weight, height, systolic blood pressure, alcohol use, and smoking (current and past). In the validation cohort, this model was well calibrated with good discrimination [C-index (95% CI) = 0.718 (0.684-0.753)] and improved all reclassification indices when compared with age alone. The addition of the genetic score to the WHS AF risk algorithm model improved the C-index [0.741 (0.709-0.774); P = 0.001], the category-less net reclassification [0.490 (0.301-0.670); P < 0.0001], and the integrated discrimination improvement [0.00526 (0.0033-0.0076); P < 0.0001]. However, there was no improvement in net reclassification into 10-year risk categories of <1, 1-5, and 5+% [0.041 (−0.044-0.12); P = 0.33]. Conclusion Among women without CVD, a simple risk prediction model utilizing readily available risk markers identified women at higher risk for AF. The addition of genetic information resulted in modest improvements in predictive accuracy that did not translate into improved reclassification into discrete AF risk categorie

Novel genetic markers improve measures of atrial fibrillation risk prediction

Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with adverse outcome. Whether recently discovered genetic risk markers improve AF risk prediction is unknown. Methods and results We derived and validated a novel AF risk prediction model from 32 possible predictors in the Women's Health Study (WHS), a cohort of 20 822 women without cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline followed prospectively for incident AF (median: 14.5 years). We then created a genetic risk score (GRS) comprised of 12 risk alleles in nine loci and assessed model performance in the validation cohort with and without the GRS. The newly derived WHS AF risk algorithm included terms for age, weight, height, systolic blood pressure, alcohol use, and smoking (current and past). In the validation cohort, this model was well calibrated with good discrimination [C-index (95% CI) = 0.718 (0.684–0.753)] and improved all reclassification indices when compared with age alone. The addition of the genetic score to the WHS AF risk algorithm model improved the C-index [0.741 (0.709–0.774); P = 0.001], the category-less net reclassification [0.490 (0.301–0.670); P < 0.0001], and the integrated discrimination improvement [0.00526 (0.0033–0.0076); P < 0.0001]. However, there was no improvement in net reclassification into 10-year risk categories of <1, 1–5, and 5+% [0.041 (−0.044–0.12); P = 0.33]. Conclusion: Among women without CVD, a simple risk prediction model utilizing readily available risk markers identified women at higher risk for AF. The addition of genetic information resulted in modest improvements in predictive accuracy that did not translate into improved reclassification into discrete AF risk categories

Early Life Risk Factors for Incident Atrial Fibrillation in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

Background-Early life risk factors are associated with cardiometabolic disease, but have not been fully studied in atrial fibrillation (AF). There are discordant results from existing studies of birth weight and AF, and the impact of maternal body size, gestational age, placental size, and birth length is unknown. Methods and Results-The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study includes 13 345 people born as singletons in Helsinki in the years 1934-1944. Follow-up was through national registries, and ended on December 31, 2013, with 907 incident cases. Cox regression analyses stratified on year of birth were constructed for perinatal variables and incident AF, adjusting for offspring sex, gestational age, and socioeconomic status at birth. There was a significant U-shaped association between birth weight and AF (P for quadratic term = 0.01). The lowest risk of AF was found among those with a birth weight of 3.4 kg (3.8 kg for women [85th percentile] and 3.0 kg for men [17th percentile]). High maternal body mass index (>= 30 kg/m(2)) predicted offspring AF; hazard ratio 1.36 (95% CI 1.07-1.74, P = 0.01) compared with normal body mass index ( Conclusions-High maternal body mass index during pregnancy and maternal height are previously undescribed predictors of offspring AF. Efforts to prevent maternal obesity might reduce later AF in offspring. Birth weight has a U-shaped relation to incident AF independent of other perinatal variables.Peer reviewe

Smoking and High-Sensitivity Troponin I Levels in Young and Healthy Adults from the General Population

Lower troponin concentrations measured in smokers in a healthy population raise the question of whether a lower troponin threshold should be considered for tobacco users. We aim to evaluate differences in troponin levels according to the smoking status in healthy young adults. Participants aged 25–41 years were enrolled in a population-based observational study. The smoking status was self-assessed, and participants were classified as never-, past-, and current smokers. Pack-years of smoking were calculated. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) concentrations were measured from thawed blood samples, and associations were assessed using multivariable linear regression analyses. We included 2155 subjects in this analysis. The mean (SD) age was 35.4 ± 5.22 years; 53% were women. The median hs-cTnI levels across smoking status categories were 0.70 (interquartile range 0.43–1.23) ng/L in never smokers (n = 1174), 0.69 (interquartile range 0.43–1.28) ng/L in past smokers (n = 503), and 0.67 (interquartile range 0.41–1.04) ng/L in current smokers (n = 478), p = 0.04. The troponin levels remained significantly lower in current smokers after adjustment for potential confounders (β-coefficient [95%CI] of −0.08 [−0.25; −0.08], p < 0.001). Our results confirm that current smokers have lower hs-cTnI levels than past or never smokers, with a significant dose–response relationship among current smokers. The absolute differences in hs-cTnI levels were small

Predisposing Factors Associated With Development of Persistent Compared With Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Once atrial fibrillation (AF) progresses to sustained forms, adverse outcomes increase and treatment success rates decrease. Therefore, identification of risk factors predisposing to persistence of AF may have a significant impact on AF morbidity. Methods and Results: We prospectively examined the differential associations between traditional, lifestyle, and biomarker AF risk factors and development of paroxysmal versus nonparoxysmal AF (persistent/permanent) among 34 720 women enrolled in the Women's Health Study who were free of cardiovascular disease and AF at baseline. AF patterns were defined based on current guidelines and classified according to the most sustained form of AF within 2 years of diagnosis. During a median follow‐up of 16.4 years, 690 women developed paroxysmal AF and 349 women developed nonparoxysmal AF. In multivariable time‐varying competing risk models, increasing age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.11, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.13, versus HR 1.08, 1.07 to 1.09, per year), body mass index (HR 1.07, 1.05 to 1.09, versus HR 1.03, 1.02 to 1.05, per kg/m2), and weight (HR 1.30, 1.22 to 1.39, versus HR 1.14, 1.08 to 1.20, per 10 kg) were more strongly associated with the development of nonparoxysmal AF compared with paroxysmal AF. Hemoglobin A1c levels at baseline were directly related to the development of nonparoxysmal AF but inversely associated with paroxysmal AF in multivariable competing risk models (P for nonequal association=0.01). Conclusions: In women without AF or CVD at baseline, increasing age, adiposity, and higher hemoglobin A1c levels were preferentially associated with the early development of nonparoxysmal AF. These data raise the hypothesis that efforts aimed at weight reduction or glycemic control may affect the proportion of the population with sustained AF