Acute Antipsychotic Use and Presence of Dysphagia Among Older Veterans with Heart Failure.

OBJECTIVE: Examine whether new antipsychotic (AP) exposure is associated with dysphagia in hospitalized patients with heart failure (HF). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: AP-naïve Veterans hospitalized with HF and subsequently discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) between October 1, 2010, and November 30, 2019. METHODS: We linked Veterans Health Administration (VHA) electronic medical records with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Minimum Data Set (MDS) version 3.0 assessments and CMS claims. The exposure variable was administration of ≥1 dose of a typical or atypical AP during hospitalization. Our main outcome measure was dysphagia presence defined by (1) inpatient dysphagia diagnosis codes and (2) the SNF admission MDS 3.0 swallowing-related items to examine post-acute care dysphagia status. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used for risk adjustment. RESULTS: The analytic cohort consisted of 29,591 Veterans (mean age 78.5 ± 10.0 years; female 2.9%; n = 865). Acute APs were administered to 9.9% (n = 2941). Those receiving APs had differences in prior dementia [37.1%, n = 1091, vs 22.3%, n = 5942; standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.33] and hospital delirium diagnoses (7.7%, n = 227 vs 2.8%, n = 754; SMD = 0.22). Acute AP exposure was associated with nearly double the risk for hospital dysphagia diagnosis codes [adjusted (adj.) relative risk (RR) 1.9, 95% CI 1.8, 2.1]. At the SNF admission MDS assessment, acute AP administration during hospitalization was associated with an increased dysphagia risk (adj. RR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0, 1.5) both in the oral (adj. RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2, 2.0) and pharyngeal phases (adj. RR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0, 1.7). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: In this retrospective study, AP medication exposure was associated with increased dysphagia coding and MDS assessment. Considering other adverse effects, acute AP should be cautiously administered during hospitalization, particularly in those with dementia. Swallowing function is critical to hydration, nutrition, and medical management of HF; therefore, when acute APs are initiated, a swallow evaluation should be considered.

Particulate matter 2.5, metropolitan status, and heart failure outcomes in US counties: A nationwide ecologic analysis.

The relationship between particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) and heart failure (HF) hospitalizations and mortality in the US is unclear. Prior studies are limited to studying the effects of daily PM2.5 exposure on HF hospitalizations in specific geographic regions. Because PM2.5 can vary by geography, this study examines the effects of annual ambient PM2.5 exposure on HF hospitalizations and mortality at a county-level across the US. A cross-sectional analysis of county-level ambient PM2.5 concentration, HF hospitalizations, and HF mortality across 3135 US counties nationwide was performed, adjusting for county-level demographics, socioeconomic factors, comorbidities, and healthcare-associated behaviors. There was a moderate correlation between county PM2.5 and HF hospitalization among Medicare beneficiaries (r = 0.41) and a weak correlation between county PM2.5 and HF mortality (r = 0.08) (p-values < 0.01). After adjustment for various county level covariates, every 1 ug/m3 increase in annual PM2.5 concentration was associated with an increase of 0.51 HF Hospitalizations/1,000 Medicare Beneficiaries and 0.74 HF deaths/100,000 residents (p-values < 0.05). In addition, the relationship between PM2.5 and HF hospitalizations was similar when factoring in metropolitan status of the counties. In conclusion, increased ambient PM2.5 concentration level was associated with increased incidence of HF hospitalizations and mortality at the county level across the US. This calls for future studies exploring policies that reduce ambient particulate matter pollution and their downstream effects on potentially improving HF outcomes.

Outcomes in heart failure patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities with delirium.

AIM: Heart failure (HF) outcomes are disproportionately worse in patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNF) as opposed to home. We hypothesized that dementia and delirium were key factors influencing these differences. Our aim was to explore the associations of dementia and delirium with risk of hospital readmission and mortality in HF patients discharged to SNF. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population included Veterans hospitalized for a primary diagnosis of HF and discharged to SNFs between 2010 and 2015. Pre-existing dementia was identified based on International Classification of Diseases-9 codes. Delirium was determined using the Minimum Data Set 3.0 Confusion Assessment Method algorithm. Proportional hazard regression analyses were used to model outcomes and were adjusted for covariates of interest. Patients (n = 21 655) were older (77.0 ± 10.5 years) and predominantly male (96.9%). Four groups were created according to presence (+) or absence (-) of dementia and delirium. Relative to the dementia-/delirium- group, the dementia-/delirium+ group was associated with increased 30 day mortality [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 2.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.7, 3.0] and 365 day mortality (adjusted HR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.3, 1.7). Readmission was highest in the dementia-/delirium+ group after 30 days (HR = 1.2, 95% CI = 1.0, 1.5). In the group with dementia (delirium-/dementia+), 30 day mortality (12.8%; HR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.7, 0.8) and readmissions (5.3%; HR = 1.0, 95% CI = 0.8, 1.1) were not different relative to the reference group. CONCLUSIONS: Delirium, independent of pre-existing dementia, confers increased risk of hospital readmission and mortality in HF patients discharged to SNFs. Managing HF after hospitalization is a complex cognitive task and an increased focus on mental status in the acute care setting prior to discharge is needed to improve HF management and transitional care, mitigate adverse outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.

New Antipsychotic Prescribing Continued into Skilled Nursing Facilities Following a Heart Failure Hospitalization: a Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are common among individuals hospitalized for heart failure (HF). Initiating high-risk medications such as antipsychotics may increase the risk of poor clinical outcomes, especially if these medications are continued unnecessarily into skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) after hospital discharge. OBJECTIVE: Examine how often older adults hospitalized with HF were initiated on antipsychotics and characteristics associated with antipsychotic continuation into SNFs after hospital discharge. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. PARTICIPANTS: Veterans without prior outpatient antipsychotic use, who were hospitalized with HF between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2015, and were subsequently discharged to a SNF. MAIN MEASURES: Demographics, clinical conditions, prior healthcare utilization, and antipsychotic use data were ascertained from Veterans Administration records, Minimum Data Set assessments, and Medicare claims. The outcome of interest was continuation of antipsychotics into SNFs after hospital discharge. KEY RESULTS: Among 18,008 Veterans, antipsychotics were newly prescribed for 1931 (10.7%) Veterans during the index hospitalization. Among new antipsychotic users, 415 (21.5%) continued antipsychotics in skilled nursing facilities after discharge. Dementia (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.48, 95% CI 1.11-1.98), psychosis (aOR 1.62, 95% CI 1.11-2.38), proportion of inpatient days with antipsychotic use (aOR 1.08, 95% CI 1.07-1.09, per 10% increase), inpatient use of only typical (aOR 0.47, 95% CI 0.30-0.72) or parenteral antipsychotics (aOR 0.39, 95% CI 0.20-0.78), and the day of hospital admission that antipsychotics were started (day 0-4 aOR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.56; day 5-7 aOR 0.54, 95% CI 0.35-0.84 (reference: day > 7 of hospital admission)) were significant predictors of continuing antipsychotics into SNFs after hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Antipsychotics are initiated fairly often during HF admissions and are commonly continued into SNFs after discharge. Hospital providers should review antipsychotic indications and doses throughout admission and communicate a clear plan to SNFs if antipsychotics are continued after discharge.

Association of poor housing conditions with COVID-19 incidence and mortality across US counties.

OBJECTIVE: Poor housing conditions have been linked with worse health outcomes and infectious disease spread. Since the relationship of poor housing conditions with incidence and mortality of COVID-19 is unknown, we investigated the association between poor housing condition and COVID-19 incidence and mortality in US counties. METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional analysis of county-level data from the US Centers for Disease Control, US Census Bureau and John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center for 3135 US counties. The exposure of interest was percentage of households with poor housing conditions (one or greater of: overcrowding, high housing cost, incomplete kitchen facilities, or incomplete plumbing facilities). Outcomes were incidence rate ratios (IRR) and mortality rate ratios (MRR) of COVID-19 across US counties through 4/21/2020. Multilevel generalized linear modeling (with total population of each county as a denominator) was utilized to estimate relative risk of incidence and mortality related to poor housing conditions with adjustment for population density and county characteristics including demographics, income, education, prevalence of medical comorbidities, access to healthcare insurance and emergency rooms, and state-level COVID-19 test density. We report incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and mortality ratios (MRRs) for a 5% increase in prevalence in households with poor housing conditions. RESULTS: Across 3135 US counties, the mean percentage of households with poor housing conditions was 14.2% (range 2.7% to 60.2%). On April 21st, the mean (SD) number of cases and deaths of COVID-19 were 255.68 (2877.03) cases and 13.90 (272.22) deaths per county, respectively. In the adjusted models standardized by county population, with each 5% increase in percent households with poor housing conditions, there was a 50% higher risk of COVID-19 incidence (IRR 1.50, 95% CI: 1.38-1.62) and a 42% higher risk of COVID-19 mortality (MRR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.25-1.61). Results remained similar using earlier timepoints (3/31/2020 and 4/10/2020). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Counties with a higher percentage of households with poor housing had higher incidence of, and mortality associated with, COVID-19. These findings suggest targeted health policies to support individuals living in poor housing conditions should be considered in further efforts to mitigate adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19.

Comparative Effectiveness of Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors in Older Nursing Home Residents After Myocardial Infarction: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence regarding differences in outcomes between angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) among older nursing home (NH) residents after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is limited. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was to estimate the post-AMI effects of ARBs versus ACEIs on mortality, rehospitalization, and functional decline outcomes in this important population. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used national Medicare claims linked to Minimum Data Set assessments. The study population included individuals aged ≥ 65 years who resided in a US NH ≥ 30 days, were hospitalized for AMI between May 2007 and March 2010, and returned to the NH. We compared 90-day mortality, rehospitalization, and functional decline outcomes between ARB and ACEI users with inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighted binomial and multinomial logistic regression models. RESULTS: Of the 2765 NH residents, 270 (9.8%) used ARBs and 2495 (90.2%) used ACEIs. The mean age of ARB versus ACEI users was 82.3 versus 82.7 years, respectively. No marked differences existed between ARB and ACEI users for mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78-1.79], rehospitalization (OR 1.22; 95% CI 0.90-1.65), or functional decline (OR 1.23; 95% CI 0.88-1.74). In subgroup analyses, ARBs were associated with increased mortality and rehospitalization in individuals with moderate to severe cognitive impairment and with increased rehospitalization in those aged < 85 years. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings align with prior data and suggest that clinicians can prescribe either ARBs or ACEIs post-AMI for secondary prevention in NH residents, although the subgroup findings merit further scrutiny and replication. Providers should consider factors such as patient preferences, class-specific adverse events, and costs when prescribing.

Regional Variation in the Association of Poverty and Heart Failure Mortality in the 3135 Counties of the United States.

Background There is significant geographical variation in heart failure (HF) mortality across the United States. County socioeconomic factors that influence these outcomes are unknown. We studied the association between county socioeconomic factors and HF mortality and compared it with coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. Methods and Results This is a cross-sectional analysis of socioeconomic factors and mortality in HF and CHD across 3135 US counties from 2010 to 2015. County-level poverty, education, income, unemployment, health insurance status, and cause-specific mortality rates were collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Census Bureau databases. Poverty had the strongest correlation with both HF and CHD mortality, disproportionately higher for HF (r=0.48) than CHD (r=0.24). HF mortality increased by 5.2 deaths/100 000 for each percentage increase in county poverty prevalence in a frequency-weighted, demographic-adjusted, multivariate regression model. The greatest attenuation in the poverty regression coefficient (66.4%) was seen after adjustment for prevalence of diabetes mellitus and obesity. Subgroup analysis by census region showed that this relationship was the strongest in the South and weakest in the Northeast (6.1 versus 1.4 deaths/100 000 per 1% increase in county poverty in a demographics-adjusted model). Conclusions County poverty is the strongest socioeconomic factor associated with HF and CHD mortality, an association that is stronger with HF than with CHD and varied by census region. Over half of the association was explained by differences in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and obesity across the counties. Health policies targeting improvement in these risk factors may address and possibly minimize health disparities caused by socioeconomic factors.

Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics in Couples: A Community-Based Study.

BACKGROUND: Determination of the correlation of ideal cardiovascular health variables among spousal or cohabitating partners may guide the development of couple-based interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. METHOD AND RESULTS: We used data from the HeartSCORE (Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation) study. Ideal cardiovascular health, defined by the American Heart Association, comprises nonsmoking, body mass index <25 kg/m2, physical activity at goal, diet consistent with guidelines, untreated total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, untreated blood pressure <120/80 mm Hg, and untreated fasting glucose <100 mg/dL. McNemar test and logistic regression were used to assess concordance patterns in these variables among partners (ie, concordance in achieving ideal factor status, concordance in not achieving ideal factor status, or discordance-only one partner achieving ideal factor status). Overall, there was a low prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health among the 231 couples studied (median age 61 years, 78% white). The highest concordances in achieving ideal factor status were for nonsmoking (26.1%), ideal fruit and vegetable consumption (23.9%), and ideal fasting blood glucose (35.6%). The strongest odds of intracouple concordance were for smoking (odds ratio, 3.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.9-6.5), fruit and vegetable consumption (odds ratio, 4.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.5-9.3) and blood pressure (odds ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-7.9). A participant had 3-fold higher odds of attaining ≥3 ideal cardiovascular health variables if he or she had a partner who attained ≥3 components (odds ratio 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-5.6). CONCLUSIONS: Intracouple concordance of ideal cardiovascular health variables supports the development and testing of couple-based interventions to promote cardiovascular health. Fruit and vegetable consumption and smoking may be particularly good intervention targets.

Association of cumulative social risk with mortality and adverse cardiovascular disease outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Quantifying the cumulative effect of social risk factors on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk can help to better understand the sources of disparities in health outcomes. METHOD AND RESULTS: Data from the Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation (HeartSCORE) study were used to create an index of cumulative social risk (CSR) and quantify its association with incident CVD and all-cause mortality. CSR was defined by assigning a score of 1 for the presence of each of 4 social factors: i) racial minority status (Black race), ii) single living status, iii) low income, and iv) low educational level. Hazard ratios (HRs) were computed using Cox-regression models, adjusted for CVD risk factors. Over a median follow-up period of 8.3 years, 127 incident events were observed. The incidence of the primary outcome for subgroups of participants with 0, 1, and ≥2 CSR scores was 5.31 (95% CI, 3.40-7.22), 10.32 (7.16-13.49) and 17.80 (12.94-22.67) per 1000 person-years, respectively. Individuals with CSR score of 1 had an adjusted HR of 1.85 (1.15-2.97) for incident primary outcomes, compared to those with score of 0. The corresponding HR for individuals with CSR score of 2 or more was 2.58 (1.60-4.17). CONCLUSION: An accumulation of social risk factors independently increased the likelihood of CVD events and deaths in a cohort of White and Black individuals.

Endothelial Dysfunction and Racial Disparities in Mortality and Adverse Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The contribution of arterial endothelial dysfunction (ED) to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among Blacks is not known. HYPOTHESIS: We investigated whether peripheral arterial ED explains racial disparity in CVD events. METHODS: Data from the Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation (Heart SCORE) study was used. Endothelial dysfunction was assessed by the Framingham reactive hyperemia index (fRHI), measured using pulse amplitude tonometry (PAT). Lower values of fRHI indicate more severe ED. The primary outcome of interest was combined CVD events and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: 1454 individuals (62% female, 40% Black, mean age 59 ± 8 years) had available data on fRHI (mean [SD]: 0.74 [0.46]). Over a mean follow-up period of 8.0 ± 2.4 years (11,186 person-years), 116 events were observed. Black race, male sex, smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 were inversely correlated with fRHI in univariate models. In an unadjusted Cox regression model, fRHI was associated with 20% lower risk of the primary outcome events (hazard ratio [HR] per 1-SD higher fRHI: 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66-0.97). However, this association was no longer significant after adjustment for CVD risk factors (HR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.74-1.11). In an age- and sex-adjusted model, Blacks had 1.68 (95% CI: 1.16-2.43) higher risk of primary outcome compared with Whites. This association was not significantly attenuated by addition of fRHI to the multivariable models. CONCLUSION: Black race is associated with increased risk of CVD events and mortality independent of its associations with ED, as measured by PAT.