[Clinical and treatment profiles of patients affected by acute coronary syndromes derived from administrative databases in the ASSL 10 Veneto orientale]. / Profili clinici e di trattamento di pazienti con sindromi coronariche acute ricostruiti in base a database amministrativi nell'ASSL 10 Veneto orientale.

BACKGROUND: This paper presents a revision of services provided to patient over two years following a myocardial infarction (MI) based on data derived from administrative databases. The study aims to evaluate the burden and the resources consumed by these patients, as well as the adherence to clinical guidelines. METHODS: All patient hospitalised for myocardial infarction in the cardiology unit of the hospital of San Donà di Piave (Venice, Italy) were identified. The clinical record was reviewed to reconstruct clinical history. Then from the Local Health Unit n. 10 all information regarding these patient were collected and analysed after record linkage. RESULTS: The patients with MI were 236. Of these, 20 died during the first hospitalization, 2 were lost to the follow up and 40 died within the two years period. The 214 patients who were alive after the first hospitalization produced 447 ordinary and 57 day hospital hospitalization. Specialist services were 23.250, and of these 17.583 were evaluated as being related to the cardiac disease. The value of drug prescribed over the two year period was Euro 553.108. The number of prescriptions belonging to the anatomic ATC class C were 29.076, received by 210 people. The mean pro capita estimated cost was Euro 22.058 in the first year, and Euro 6.226 in the second year. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics of the sample population of our patients with MI were similar to those described in the literature. Follow up showed a sharp decrease of care and services received by patients during the second year after the acute event. In addition, a large part of services was not related to the cardiac diseases. Only a limited number of patients followed a rehabilitation programme. The estimated pro capita overall cost was very relevant in the first year, and the difference with the cost of the second year suggests a fall over time of the relevance attributed by the patients to the cardiac problems.

Fall in readmission rate for heart failure after implementation of B-type natriuretic peptide testing for discharge decision: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: B-type natriuretic peptide is the most powerful predictor of long term prognosis in patients hospitalised with heart failure. On an outsetting basis, a decrease in B-type natriuretic peptide levels is associated to a decrease in event rate for outpatients managed using the neuro-hormone levels as the target in heart failure therapy. We have retrospectively checked whether the addition of pre-discharge B-type natriuretic peptide levels to a clinical-instrumental decisional score for discharge decision in patients admitted for heart failure reduced readmission rate for heart failure and related cost. METHODS: We studied two series of consecutive patients admitted to the Heart Failure Unit due to acute heart failure as a main diagnosis. One-hundred and forty-nine patients discharged on the basis of the sole clinical acumen were compared to one hundred and sixty-six subjects discharged adding B-type natriuretic peptide levels to the decisional score. RESULTS: During a six-month follow-up period, there were 52 readmissions (35%) among the clinical group (n=149) compared with 38 (23%) readmissions in the B-type natriuretic peptide group (n=166) (chi(2)=5.5; P=0.02). Survival did not differ between groups (87%). Changes in B-type natriuretic peptide values were correlated to clinical events: a B-type natriuretic peptide value on discharge of < or =250 pg/ml or a reduction of > or =30% in B-type natriuretic peptide values predicted a 23% event rate (death, plus readmission for heart failure), whereas a far higher percentage (71%) were observed in the remaining patients (chi(2)=32.7; P=0.001). Likewise, the overall costs of care were lower (-7%) in the B-type natriuretic peptide group: 2.781+/-923 vs 2.978+/-1.057 euros per patient respectively. CONCLUSIONS: our study suggest that the addition of pre-discharge B-type natriuretic peptide levels to a clinical-instrumental decisional score for discharge decision in patients admitted for heart failure may contribute to reduce the number of readmissions and related cost.

[Screening for asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction in high-risk patients. Preliminary experience with a program based on the use of ECG and natriuretic peptide]. / Lo screening della disfunzione sistolica ventricolare sinistra asintomatica nei pazienti ad alto rischio cardiovascolare. esperienza pilota di un programma basato sull'utilizzo dell'ECG e dei peptidi natriuretici.

BACKGROUND: Patients with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ALVSD) have an increased risk of heart failure (HF) and a worse life expectancy. Since valuable therapies may prevent such dismal evolution, screening programs for ALVSD have recently been advocated to detect as early as possible such ominous condition. Echocardiography represents the gold standard for the assessment of ALVSD but its indiscriminate use in screening programs is impractical. Clinical multivariate risk assessment associated with ECG and serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) may be a feasible strategy to screen ALVSD. We prospectively sought to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a screening program for ALVSD based on ECG and BNP used in a hierarchical sequence in patients at high risk for HF. METHODS: Patients > or =55 years old with > or =2 risk factors for HF or > or =70 years old with > or =1 risk factor for HF entered the study performing sequentially ECG, BNP and echocardiographic evaluation. ALVSD was defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction < or =50%. RESULTS: Thirty-three of 122 enrolled patients (27%) had ALVSD. They were older, presented more frequently a history of chemotherapy exposure, had often bundle branch block and higher BNP levels. No patient without any major abnormalities (atrial fibrillation, left ventricular hypertrophy, STT alterations of ischemic/strain origin, pathologic Q wave, bundle branch block) on ECG (n=31, 24.4%) had ALVSD. Among the 91 patients with abnormal ECG, ALVSD was observed in 33 (36%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to detect ALVSD by BNP was 0.86 (confidence interval 0.79-0.94, p<0.0001) and BNP values of > or =43 pg/ml showed a sensitivity and a specificity of 94% and 57%, respectively. The proposed screening program was able to identify 95% (31/33) of patients with ALVSD saving 53% of echocardiographic examinations with a substantial reduction of the costs to diagnose ALVSD. CONCLUSIONS: Our prospective investigation confirms that ECG and BNP may be useful in detecting ALVSD in high-risk patients. A cost-effective screening program based on such simple and low-cost diagnostic tests might be employed for the prevention of HF in primary and secondary prevention programs in high-risk patients.

[Heart failure in Eastern Veneto: prevalence, hospitalization rate, adherence to guidelines and social costs]. / Lo scompenso cardiaco nel veneto orientale: prevalenza, ospedalizzazione, aderenza alle linee guida e costi sociali.

Heart failure is a prominent problem of public health, requiring innovating methods of health services organization. Nevertheless, data are still not available on prevalence, hospitalization rate, adherence to Guidelines and social costs in the general Italian population. The necessity to identifying patients with heart failure derives from the efficacy of new therapeutic interventions in reducing morbidity and mortality. In this study we aimed to identify, in a subset of the Eastern Veneto population, patients with heart failure through a pharmacologic-epidemiologic survey. The study was divided in 5 phases: (1) identification of patients on furosemide in the year 2000 in the ASL 10 of Eastern Veneto general population, through an analysis of a specific pharmaceutic service database; (2) definition of the actual prevalence of heart failure in a casual sample of these patients, through data base belonging to general practitioners, cardiologists, or others. Diagnosis was based on the following criteria: (a) previous diagnosis of heart failure; (b) previous hospitalization for heart failure; (c) clinical evidence, with echocardiographic control in unclear cases; (3) survey of hospitalizations; (4) evaluation of adhesion to guidelines, through both databases and questionnaires; (5) analysis of the social costs of the disease, with a retrospective "bottom up" approach. From a total population of 198,000 subjects, we identified 4502 patients on furosemide. In a casual sample of 10,661 subjects we defined a prevalence of heart failure in Eastern Veneto of 1.1%, that increased to 7.1% in octagenarians. The prescription of life saving drugs was satisfactory, while rather poor was the indication to echocardiography and to cardiologic consultation. Hospitalization rate for DRG 127 was low: 2.1/1000 inhabitants/year in the general population and 12.5 /1000 inhabitants/year in patients >70 years of age. Yearly mortality was 10.3%. Social costs were elevated (15.394 Euros/patient/year), due to a relevant sanitary component (hospital 53%, drugs 28%) and particularly a to an indirect cost component. In conclusion, the assumption of furosemide lends itself as a good marker for identifying patients with heart failure. Patient identification is simple, cheap and cost-efficient, and can be easily reproduced in other regional areas.

[Is early discharge possible in patients with uncomplicated heart failure? Cost-efficacy analysis]. / E possibile dimettere precocemente il paziente con scompenso cardiaco non complicato? Un'analisi costo-efficacia.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a common indication for admission to the hospital among old adults. The hospital stay for uncomplicated heart failure is often too long. We hypothesized that a rapid optimization of care and a guideline-based approach would allow an early discharge of patients, still maintaining a greater quality and efficiency of care. METHODS: We conducted a randomized trial of the effect of a guideline-based intervention on rates of readmission within 90 days of hospital discharge and costs of care for patients who were hospitalized for heart failure and discharged after 4 days of stay. The intervention consisted of early echocardiography, aggressive diuretic therapy, comprehensive education of the patient and family, a prescribed diet, and intensive application of the guidelines' recommendations on pharmacological therapy. Fifty early-discharged patients were compared to 50 concurrent normally-discharged patients. RESULTS: Average length of stays during baseline admissions was shorter for early-discharged patients respect to controls (3.9 +/- 0.8 vs 7.0 +/- 1.9 days, p < 0.001). At discharge, when compared with control patients, early-discharged patients were similarly prescribed and/or were taking similar dosages of ACE-inhibitors (84 vs 80% and 17 vs 15 mg/die, p = NS), beta-blockers (64 vs 56% and 14 vs 16 mg/die, p = NS), spironolactone (86 vs 70% and 36 vs 32 mg/die, p = NS), digoxin (74 vs 70% and 0.18 vs 0.15 mg/die, p = NS), and losartan (8 vs 6% and 50 mg/die for both groups, p = NS). Hospital readmission rates and days of stay were similar between groups (6 vs 8% and 18 vs 26 days, respectively for study and control patients), whilst the overall costs of care were lower for early-discharged patients (289 vs 449 [symbol: see text] per patient per month), due to the shorter length of stay at baseline. Survival for 90 days was achieved in 47 patients both in the study and control groups (p = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that patients admitted for heart failure may be safely discharged 4 days after admission. An in-hospital guideline-based management of patients allows relevant cost savings, reducing hospital readmission for heart failure.