Stopping renin-angiotensin system blockers after acute kidney injury and risk of adverse outcomes: parallel population-based cohort studies in English and Swedish routine care.

BACKGROUND: The safety of restarting angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) after acute kidney injury (AKI) is unclear. There is concern that previous users do not restart ACEI/ARB despite ongoing indications. We sought to determine the risk of adverse events after an episode of AKI, comparing prior ACEI/ARB users who stop treatment to those who continue. METHODS: We conducted two parallel cohort studies in English and Swedish primary and secondary care, 2006-2016. We used multivariable Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for hospital admission with heart failure (primary analysis), AKI, stroke, or death within 2 years after hospital discharge following a first AKI episode. We compared risks of admission between people who stopped ACEI/ARB treatment to those who were prescribed ACEI/ARB within 30 days of AKI discharge. We undertook sensitivity analyses, including propensity score-matched samples, to explore the robustness of our results. RESULTS: In England, we included 7303 people with AKI hospitalisation following recent ACEI/ARB therapy for the primary analysis. Four thousand three (55%) were classified as stopping ACEI/ARB based on no prescription within 30 days of discharge. In Sweden, we included 1790 people, of whom 1235 (69%) stopped treatment. In England, no differences were seen in subsequent risk of heart failure (HR 1.10; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.93-1.30), AKI (HR 0.90; 95% CI 0.77-1.05), or stroke (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.71-1.38), but there was an increased risk of death (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.15-1.41) in those who stopped ACEI/ARB compared to those who continued. Results were similar in Sweden: no differences were seen in risk of heart failure (HR 0.91; 95% CI 0.73-1.13) or AKI (HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.54-1.21). However, no increased risk of death was seen (HR 0.94; 95% CI 0.78-1.13) and stroke was less common in people who stopped ACEI/ARB (HR 0.56; 95% CI 0.34-0.93). Results were similar across all sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Previous ACEI/ARB users who continued treatment after an episode of AKI did not have an increased risk of heart failure or subsequent AKI compared to those who stopped the drugs.

A contemporary risk model for predicting 30-day mortality following percutaneous coronary intervention in England and Wales.

BACKGROUND: The current risk model for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the UK is based on outcomes of patients treated in a different era of interventional cardiology. This study aimed to create a new model, based on a contemporary cohort of PCI treated patients, which would: predict 30 day mortality; provide good discrimination; and be well calibrated across a broad risk-spectrum. METHODS AND RESULTS: The model was derived from a training dataset of 336,433 PCI cases carried out between 2007 and 2011 in England and Wales, with 30 day mortality provided by record linkage. Candidate variables were selected on the basis of clinical consensus and data quality. Procedures in 2012 were used to perform temporal validation of the model. The strongest predictors of 30-day mortality were: cardiogenic shock; dialysis; and the indication for PCI and the degree of urgency with which it was performed. The model had an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.85 on the training data and 0.86 on validation. Calibration plots indicated a good model fit on development which was maintained on validation. CONCLUSION: We have created a contemporary model for PCI that encompasses a range of clinical risk, from stable elective PCI to emergency primary PCI and cardiogenic shock. The model is easy to apply and based on data reported in national registries. It has a high degree of discrimination and is well calibrated across the risk spectrum. The examination of key outcomes in PCI audit can be improved with this risk-adjusted model.

Impact of age on the prognostic value of left ventricular function in relation to procedural outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention: insights from the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society.

BACKGROUND: Around one third of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Whilst the prevalence of LV dysfunction is known to increase with age, the prevalence of LV dysfunction in different age groups in the PCI setting is not known and the effect of age on the prognostic value of LV function in the PCI setting has not been examined. METHODS: The relationship between LV function and 30-day mortality in patients undergoing PCI in different age groups (<60 years, 60 to <70 years, 70 to <80 years and ≥80 years) was studied in 246,840 patients in the UK between 2006 and 2011. RESULTS: Prevalent LV dysfunction in patients undergoing PCI increased with age; 25,106/83,161 (30.2%: <60 years), 24,114/76,895 (31.4%: 60 to <70 years), 23,580/64,711 36.4% (70 to <80 years) and 9,851/22,073 (44.6%) in patients aged 80 or over (P < 0.0001). Poor LV function was independently associated with increased risk of 30-day mortality outcomes in all age groups (OR 5.65:95% CI 4.21-7.58, age <60 years; OR 5.07: 95% CI 3.91-6.57, age 60 to <70 years; OR 4.50: 95% CI 3.64-5.57, 70 to <80 years and OR 4.83:95% CI 3.79-6.15, age ≥80 years). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that worsening LV function is an important independent predictor of worse 30-day mortality outcomes across all age groups and underscores the need for a measure of LV function in all patients for accurate risk stratification prior to PCI.