Increased national mortality in acute myocardial infarction hospitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This retrospective study describes the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on epidemiologic trends and highlights disparities in outcomes among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospitalizations. The National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 to 2020 was searched for hospitalizations of adult patients with AMI as a principal diagnosis using Clinical Classifications Software Refined codes. The admission rate for each calendar year was obtained as admission per 1000 adults hospitalized. The primary outcome was a comparison of inpatient mortality, and the secondary outcomes were the length of hospital stay and total hospital charge between prepandemic and pandemic years. During the pandemic (2020), the admission rate for AMI was 31.1 admissions per 1000 adults hospitalized compared to 33.4 admissions in 2019 (prepandemic) (P < 0.001). When compared to the prepandemic admissions, those admitted during the pandemic had a lower mean age (66.5 ± 13.2 vs 66.9 ± 13.4, P < 0.001), with more women (36.3% vs 37.3%, P < 0.001). The inpatient mortality during the pandemic was 5.0% compared to 4.5% in 2019 (P < 0.001). Mortality increased 12.0% in women vs 9.5% in men, 13.2% in Blacks vs 8.9% in Whites, and 6.5% in low-income vs 4.3% in high-income household hospitalizations. In conclusion, our study showed a statistically significant reduction in AMI admission rates during the pandemic and an increase in inpatient mortality. There were significant disparities in the increase in mortality across sociodemographic groups.

Impact of Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program Policy on 30-Day and 90-Day Readmissions in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: A 10-Year Trend From the National Readmissions Database.

Hospital readmissions following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) pose a significant economic burden on health care utilization. The hospital readmission reduction program (HRRP) enacted in 2012 focused on reducing readmissions by penalizing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare hospitals. We aim to assess the trend of readmissions after AMI hospitalization between 2010 and 2019 and assess the impact of HRRP. The National Readmission Database was queried to identify AMI hospitalizations between 2010 and 2019. In the primary analysis, trends of 30-day and 90-day all-cause and AMI specific readmissions were assessed from 2010 to 2019. In the secondary analysis, trend of readmission means length of stay and mean adjusted total cost were calculated. There were a total of 592,015 30-day readmissions and 787,008 90-day readmissions after an index hospitalization for AMI between 2010 and 2019. The rates of 30-day and 90-day all-cause readmissions decreased significantly from 12.8% to 11.6%, (P = 0.0001) and 20.6 to 18.8, (P = 0.0001) respectively in the decade under study. With regards to HRRP policy intervals, the pre-HRRP period from 2010 to 2012 showed a downward trend in all-cause readmission (12.8% to 11.6%) and similarly a downward trend was also seen in the post HRRP period (2013-2015:11.0%-8.2%, 2016-2019-12.3-11.7%). Secondary analysis showed a trend towards increase in mean length of stay (4.54-4.96 days, P = 0.0001) and adjusted total cost ($13,449-$16,938) in 30-day all-cause readmission for AMI in the decade under review. In our National Readmission Database-based analysis of patients readmitted to hospitals within 30-days and 90-days after AMI, the rate of all-cause readmissions down trended from 2010 to 2019.

A case report: rapid progression of coronary atherosclerosis in a patient taking Targretin (Bexarotene).

Anti-neoplastic drugs have made major advancements in oncology, however they are not without cardiovascular consequences. We present a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma receiving Targretin therapy who presented with accelerated atherosclerosis. His triglyceride level (TG) was greater than 1000 mg/dL, which rapidly improved with discontinuation of Targretin.