Implementation of a Multidisciplinary Inpatient Cardiology Service to Improve Heart Failure Outcomes in Guyana.

BACKGROUND: Guyana is a small developing country with a high burden of cardiovascular disease and extensive barriers to optimal care delivery. We investigated the effectiveness of a newly established multidisciplinary inpatient cardiology service in this setting. METHODS: We performed an interrupted time-series cohort study of heart failure (HF) patients admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation from January to December 2015 and July 2016 to December 2017. The primary outcome was discharge on guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT). Secondary outcomes included length of hospitalization and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: We identified 740 patients, 347 (46.9%) of whom were admitted after service implementation. The postimplementation cohort was more likely to be discharged on a beta-blocker (66.6% vs 41.7%; P < .01) and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (31.7% vs 15.3%; P = .01). They were also more likely to undergo echocardiography (60.8% vs 40.5%; P < .01) and chest x-rays (70.6% vs 46.6%; P < .01). Hospitalization length (10.0 ± 13.1 vs 9.8 ± 10.1 days) and readmissions within 90 days (19.0% vs 19.1%) were not significantly different. There were fewer deaths in the postimplementation cohort compared with the preimplementation cohort (12/347 vs 28/393). CONCLUSIONS: Establishment of a multidisciplinary inpatient cardiology service demonstrated increased adherence to GDMT without extending length of hospitalization.

Underuse of cardiorenal protective agents in high-risk diabetes patients in primary care: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) have shown benefits in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure (HF), and chronic kidney disease (CKD). OBJECTIVE: We assessed benchmark outcomes (Hemoglobin A1c, LDL-C, and blood pressure), identified the prevalence of cardiorenal indications for SGLT2i and GLP-1RA, and compared prescribing rates of GLP1-RA and SGLT2i in those with and without cardiorenal indications. METHODS: We analyzed data from January 2018-June 2019 for 7168 patients with diabetes using electronic medical records from the Northern Alberta Primary Care Research Network, a regional network of the Canadian Primary Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). Patients with and without cardiorenal comorbidities were compared using descriptive statistics and two proportion Z tests. RESULTS: Hemoglobin A1c ≤ 7.0% was met by 56.8%, blood pressure < 130/80 mmHg by 62.1%, LDL-C ≤ 2.0 mmol/L by 45.3% of patients. There were 4377 patients on glucose lowering medications; metformin was most common (77.7%), followed by insulin (24.6%), insulin secretagogues (23.6%), SGLT2i (19.7%), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (19.3%), and GLP-1RA (9.4%). A quarter of patients had cardiorenal indications for SGLT2i or GLP-1RA. Use of SGLT2i in these patients was lower than in patients without cardiorenal comorbidities (14.9% vs 21.2%, p < 0.05). GLP-1RA use in these patients was 4.6% compared with 11% in those without cardiorenal comorbidities (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: Contrary to current evidence and recommendations, SGLT2i and GLP1-RA were less likely to be prescribed to patients with pre-existing CVD, HF, and/or CKD, revealing opportunities to improve prescribing for patients with diabetes at high-risk for worsening cardiorenal complications.