Trends in lipid management among patients with coronary artery disease: has diabetes received the attention it deserves?

OBJECTIVE: To examine lipid management trends for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with and without diabetes in order to determine whether those with diabetes are beginning to receive aggressive lipid management consistent with their elevated risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used outpatient medical record data from 47,813 CAD patients seen at 295 medical practices participating in the Quality Assurance Program II between 1996 and 1998. Lipid testing rates, lipid treatment rates, and serum lipid concentrations are described for CAD patients with and without diabetes within strata of office visit date. RESULTS: Lipid testing and treatment rates increased and mean lipid levels decreased markedly over time. Those with diabetes were 26% less likely to have a lipid profile and 17% less likely to receive a lipid-lowering medication than their nondiabetic counterparts, and this disparity did not diminish over time. Among treated patients, mean non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) declined less rapidly over time for patients with than without diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Although impressive progress was made in the outpatient lipid management of CAD patients, lipid management for CAD patients with diabetes improved no more rapidly, and in some cases less rapidly, than for nondiabetic patients. Given their higher risk, more effort is needed to ensure that CAD patients with diabetes receive aggressive lipid management.

Risk factors for hip fracture in skilled nursing facilities: who should be evaluated?

This paper aims to identify risk factors for hip fracture in Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents and to develop a predictive model based on routinely collected administrative data (the Minimum Data Set, MDS) to identify high-risk residents. Prospective cohort study of 28,807 North Carolina Medicare SNF residents aged >65 years with a complete MDS assessment in 1999. Demographic, historical, physical, cognitive, behavioral, activities of daily living, and medication variables were obtained from the MDS. Hip fracture occurring after the first MDS assessment identified by ICD-9 code was the outcome measure. Variables significantly associated with hip fracture by chi-square test in a randomly selected derivation sample were combined in a multivariable logistic model and in models stratified by gender. The models were validated in the remaining subjects. Variables significantly related to subsequent hip fracture in the full cohort include: female sex (odds ratio 1.3, 95% confidence interval 1.0-1.7), white race (2.3, 1.6-3.5), age (1.03 per year, 1.01-1.04), cognitive impairment (1.4, 1.8-1.8), incontinence (0.68, 0.5-0.9), prior fractures (1.6, 1.2-2.1), and prior falls (1.4, 1.2-1.8). In ambulatory non-Hispanic white women, anxiety (1.5, 1.0-2.1), anxiolytic use (1.4, 1.1-1.9), wandering (1.4, 1.0-2.2), and training in community skills (1.4, 1.1-1.8) were new significant variables. For ambulatory non-Hispanic white men, education level (2.0, 1.2-3.2), weight loss (0.5, 0.2-1.0), history of osteoporosis (3.0, 1.3-6.7), pathologic bone fracture (9.7, 2.2-42.6), COPD (2.1, 1.3-3.5), glaucoma (2.6, 1.0-6.2), and standing balance impairment (1.8, 1.0-3.3) were also significant. All models were highly correlated with subsequent hip fracture, but the discriminative ability was limited (c statistic 0.678). Risk factors explained more of hip fracture risk in non-Hispanic white men (c statistic 0.793) than non-Hispanic white women (0.658). Risk factors for hip fracture in Medicare SNF residents have similarities and differences from those previously identified in community-dwelling older adults. Osteoporosis screening and intervention should focus on the healthiest, most independent subset of residents who have the greatest fracture risk.

Undertreatment of hyperlipidemia in patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease patients with heart failure (CAD+HF) are at high risk for cardiovascular events. We examined the frequency of lipid assessment and prescription of lipid-lowering agents in outpatients with combined CAD+HF compared with patients with CAD alone. METHODS: We analyzed an administrative data set from the Quality Assurance Program II, a Merck & Co., Inc., sponsored national retrospective chart audit of 41,487 CAD patients seen at 296 ambulatory medical practices. About 34% of these patients had CAD+HF. RESULTS: Documentation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was significantly lower in patients with CAD+HF (53%) compared with those with CAD alone (69%). Lipid-lowering drugs were prescribed in only 36% of patients with CAD+HF, compared with 52% of patients with CAD alone. Lipid levels alone did not justify this disparity. Patients with documented LDL cholesterol values were 4 times more likely to receive a prescription for a lipid-lowering medication than those without recorded values. Other predictors of lipid-lowering prescription included: younger age, history of myocardial infarction, revascularization, care by a cardiologist, and geographic region. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with CAD, HF, and advanced age simultaneously experience among the highest risk and the lowest lipid-lowering treatment rates. Strategies to increase LDL testing and aggressively treat patients with heart failure and CAD are warranted.