Two-year prognosis and cardiovascular disease prevention after acute coronary syndrome; the role of cardiac rehabilitation: a French nationwide study.

AIMS: To evaluate the impact of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on optimization of secondary prevention treatments for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), medication persistence, medical follow-up, rehospitalisation, and all-cause mortality. METHODS: The national health insurance database was used to identify all patients hospitalised for ACS in France in 2019 and those among them who received CR. Patients' characteristics and outcomes were described and compared between CR and non-CR patients. Poisson regression models were used to identify the impact of CR after adjusting for confounders. A Cox model was fitted to identify the variables related to mortality after adjustment for medication persistence and cardiologic follow-up. RESULTS: In 2019, 22% of 134,846 patients hospitalised for ACS in France received CR within six months of their discharge. After one year, only 60% of patients who did not receive CR were still taking BASI drugs (combination of Beta blockers, Antiplatelets agents, Statins and RAAS Inhibitors). This rate and the medical follow-up rate were higher in patients who received CR. Two years after the ACS event, patients who received CR had better medical follow-up and lower mortality risk, after adjusting for cofounding variables (adjusted HR all-cause mortality = 0.65 [0.61-0.69]). After adjustment for the dispensing of cardiovascular drugs and cardiologic follow-up, the independent effect of CR was not as strong but remained significant (HR = 0.90 [95%CI: 0.84-0.95]). CONCLUSION: Patients who received CR after hospitalisation for ACS had a better prognosis. Optimization of efficient secondary prevention strategies, improved medication persistence, and enhanced cardiologic follow-up seemed to play a major role.

In our nationwide study of all patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome in 2019 (n = 134,846), 22% were admitted in cardiac rehabilitation after their hospitalisation. The admission in cardiac rehabilitation unit increased patients medication persistence, increased the chance to initiate a tobacco replacement therapy in smokers, reduced rehospitalisation risk and the recurrence of acute coronary syndrome. In addition the risk of death was reduced in the two years following the hospitalization. Health benefits associated with an admission in cardiac rehabilitation following an acute coronary syndrome are significant focusing recurrence and mortality. The correction of cardiovascular risk factors, the improvement of medication persistence and a more frequent cardiologic follow-up play a major role in these health benefits.These results should help to encourage increased referral for and patient participation in cardiac rehabilitation programs, whose rate is still very low in many countries, including France. Finally, decreasing hospital capacity means that new rehabilitation modalities need to be considered, including supervised home-based CR and tele-rehabilitation.

Infection and Pediatric Arterial Ischemic Stroke Presumably Related to Focal Cerebral Arteriopathy: Data From the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Infection may trigger pediatric arterial ischemic stroke (PAIS), notably when related to focal cerebral arteriopathy. Community- and individual-level nonpharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a major decrease in pediatric viral infections. We explored the consequences on the incidence of PAIS. METHODS: Using national public health databases, we identified children hospitalized between 2015 and 2022 with PAIS. Using an age proxy (29 days to 7 years) and excluding patients with cardiac and hematologic conditions, we focused on children with PAIS presumably related to focal cerebral arteriopathy or with no definite cause. Considering the delay between infection and PAIS occurrence, we compared a prepandemic reference period, a period with nonpharmaceutical interventions, and a post-nonpharmaceutical intervention period. RESULTS: Interrupted time-series analyses of the monthly incidence of PAIS in this group showed a significant decrease in the nonpharmaceutical intervention period compared with the prepandemic period: -33.5% (95% CI, -55.2%, -1.3%); P=0.043. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the association between infection and PAIS presumably related to focal cerebral arteriopathy.

Early Mortality, Cardiovascular, and Renal Diseases in Women's Lives Following Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: The Prospective Nationwide Study CONCEPTION.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the impact of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy occurrence, recurrence, onset time, and severity on mortality and on a wide range of cardiovascular outcomes in France. METHODS AND RESULTS: CONCEPTION (Cohort of Cardiovascular Diseases in Pregnancy) is a French nationwide prospective cohort using data from the National Health Data System. We included all women in CONCEPTION with no history of a cardiovascular event who delivered in France for the first time between 2010 and 2018 (N=2 819 655). Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and cardiovascular outcomes during the study follow-up were identified using algorithms combining International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) coded diagnoses during hospitalization and purchases of medication between 2010 and 2021. We fitted Cox models with time-varying exposure to assess the associations of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy with mortality and cardiovascular events. Women with gestational hypertension had a 1.25- to 2-fold higher risk of stroke, acute coronary syndrome, peripheral arterial disease, pulmonary embolism, and chronic kidney disease, and a 2- to 4-fold higher risk of rhythm and conduction disorder and heart failure. Women with preeclampsia had a 1.35- to 2-fold higher risk of rhythm or conduction disorder and pulmonary embolism during follow-up; a 2- to 4-fold higher risk of stroke, acute coronary syndrome, and peripheral arterial disease; and a 7- to 9-fold higher risk of heart failure and chronic kidney disease. They were 1.8 times more likely to die and 4.4 times more likely to die of cardiovascular causes. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy drastically increase the risk of mortality, cardiovascular, and renal events early after pregnancy. Recurrent, severe, and early-onset preeclampsia further increases this risk.

Hemorrhagic Strokes Attributable to Chronic Alcohol Consumption and Heavy Episodic Drinking in France.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the number of cases and deaths related to hemorrhagic stroke (HS) attributable to a chronic alcohol consumption and to heavy episodic drinking (HED) in France. METHODS: A population-attributable fraction (PAF) estimation approach was used. Relative risks for HS with alcohol consumption were extracted from the INTERSTROKE study. Levels of alcohol consumption in the French population were collected from the 2017 Health Barometer. Data on HS morbidity and mortality were extracted from the French National Health Data System (SNDS). RESULTS: We estimated that 7.2% (n = 2,100) and 6.6% (n = 1,900) of cases with HS were attributable to chronic alcohol consumption and HED, respectively. PAFs were higher in men than in women with 11.5% vs 2.6% for a chronic consumption and 10.7% vs 2.1% for HED, respectively. We estimated that 7.0% of HS deaths (n = 1,100) were attributable to chronic alcohol consumption and 5.1% attributable to HED (n = 800). Finally, 16.3% of patients with HS (n = 4,700) and 14.1% of HS deaths (n = 2,300) were attributable to overall chronic alcohol consumption or to monthly HED. DISCUSSION: These results remind the importance of alcohol consumption in the occurrence of HS and the importance of implementing primary and secondary prevention measures, particularly among young people, where HED is most common.

Temporal trends in admission for cardiac rehabilitation after an acute coronary syndrome in France from 2009 to 2021: Persistent sex, age and social disparities.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation after an acute coronary syndrome is recommended to decrease patient morbidity and mortality and to improve quality of life. AIMS: To describe time trends in the rates of patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation after an acute coronary syndrome in France from 2009 to 2021, and to identify possible disparities. METHODS: All patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome in France between January 2009 and June 2021 were identified from the national health insurance database. Cardiac rehabilitation attendance was identified within 6 months of acute coronary syndrome hospital discharge. Age-standardized cardiac rehabilitation rates were computed and stratified for sex and acute coronary syndrome subtypes (ST-segment elevation and non-ST-segment elevation). Patient characteristics and outcomes were described and compared. Factors independently associated with cardiac rehabilitation attendance were identified. RESULTS: In 2019, among 134,846 patients with an acute coronary syndrome, 22.3% underwent cardiac rehabilitation within 6 months of acute coronary syndrome hospital discharge. The mean age of patients receiving cardiac rehabilitation was 62 years. The median delay between acute coronary syndrome hospitalization and cardiac rehabilitation was 32 days, with about 60% receiving outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. Factors significantly associated with higher cardiac rehabilitation rates were male sex, younger age (35-64 years), least socially disadvantaged group, ST-segment elevation, percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass graft. Between 2009 and 2019, cardiac rehabilitation rates increased by 40% from 15.9% to 22.3%. Despite greater upward trends in women, their cardiac rehabilitation rate was significantly lower than that for men (14.8% vs. 25.8%). In 2020, cardiac rehabilitation attendance dropped because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the health benefits of cardiac rehabilitation, current cardiac rehabilitation attendance after acute coronary syndrome remains insufficient in France, particularly among the elderly, women and socially disadvantaged people.