RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In a prospective epidemiological study of chronic Chagas' disease, several clinical and echocardiographic variables were analyzed as predictors of mortality. METHODS: Among 960 subjects seropositive for Chagas' disease who were examined between June 1981 and June 1992, 283 had echocardiograms. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up period of 48.3 +/- 36.4 months (range, 1-156 months), 108 subjects died. Echocardiographic end-diastolic and -systolic left ventricular internal dimensions, fractional shortening, radius-to-thickness ratio, left ventricular mass, mitral E-point septal separation, and 17 other nonechocardiographic variables were predictors of death on univariate analysis (P < 0.001 for each). On stepwise multiple regression analysis of 215 subjects, significant risk covariates in a Cox model analysis were clinical group (P < 0.0001), M-mode echocardiographic E-point septal separation of 22 mm (P = 0.003), presence of first- or second-degree heart block (P = 0.003), chest radiologic cardiothoracic ratio >/= 0.55 (P = 0.012), presence of electrocardiographic ST segment elevation on precordial leads (P = 0.014), age >/= 56 years (P = 0.028), and presence of right bundle-branch block (P = 0.045). Patients with an apical aneurysm on two-dimensional echocardiography had an increased mortality (Chi-square = 11.5, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Echocardiography is a valuable tool to assess the risk of death in prospective studies on chronic Chagas' heart disease.
RESUMO
A pesar de numerosos ensayos clínicos y guías con los que se cuenta para el manejo de enfermedades cardiovasculares, en ocasiones, este material no es contentivo de directrices explícitas que orienten a los sistemas de salud y al médico especialista o general cómo mejorar la etapa de seguimiento en la consulta externa de la patología. Esto muy probablemente es debido a la falta de respaldo de medicina basada en evidencia para emitir recomendaciones que estandaricen y protocolicen el manejo del paciente ambulatorio como es la regla en muchas condiciones médicas. Se han resumido las recomendaciones para el manejo ambulatorio del paciente luego de un episodio de insuficiencia cardíaca aguda (ICA) basadas en la evidencia científica existente. El objetivo es optimizar las directrices para el control y manejo del paciente que egresa del hospital luego de un episodio de ICA, dando respuestas a preguntas frecuentes. Estas recomendaciones deben redundar en un mejor manejo de estos pacientes con la consecuente reducción de re-hospitalizaciones por igual causa y posposición de la muerte, transformando al paciente ya compensado y egresado en otro con insuficiencia cardiaca crónica estable.
Despite numerous published clinical trials, guidelines and statements available for the management of cardiovascular diseases, some do not contain explicit content that may orient health systems, the attending specialist or primary care physician on how to improve the control of such conditions on the follow-up in the outpatient clinic. This could probably be due to the lack of support from evidence based medicine to issue recommendations to standardize ambulatory patient management as is the rule with other medical conditions. Recommendations for the ambulatory management of post acute heart failure (AHF) episode patients are summarized based on existing scientific evidence. The goal is to optimize guidelines for the management and control of discharged patients following an episode of AHF providing answers to frequently raised questions. These recommendations should result in better patient management, consequently reducing re-hospitalization, postponing death and transforming an already compensated and discharged patient into another with stable chronic heart failure. We are aware that heart failure management is overly critical due to the fact that, since this entity resides at the final stage of the cardiovascular continuum, it may not spike further interest as compared to other cardiovascular syndromes.