Association of prevalence of active transport to work and incidence of myocardial infarction: A nationwide ecological study.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of population-based geospatial data about the association between active transport and myocardial infarction. We investigated the association between active transport to work and incidence of myocardial infarction. DESIGN: This ecological study of 325 local authorities in England included 43,077,039 employed individuals aged 25-74 years (UK Census, 2011), and 117,521 individuals with myocardial infarction (Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project, 2011-2013). METHODS: Bayesian negative binomial regression models were used to investigate the association of active transport to work and incidence of myocardial infarction adjusting for local levels of deprivation, obesity, smoking, diabetes and physical activity. RESULTS: In 2011, the prevalence of active transportation to work for people in employment in England aged 25-74 years was 11.4% (4,531,182 active transporters; 8.6% walking and 2.8% cycling). Active transport in 2011 was associated with a reduced incidence of myocardial infarction in 2012 amongst men cycling to work (incidence rate ratio (95% credible interval) 0.983 (0.967-0.999); and women walking to work (0.983 (0.967-0.999)) after full adjustments. However, the prevalence of active transport for men and women was not significantly associated with the combined incidence of myocardial infarction between 2011-2013 after adjusting for physical activity, smoking and diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: In England, the prevalence of active transportation was associated with a reduced incidence of myocardial infarction for women walking and men cycling to work in corresponding local geographic areas. The overall association of active transport with myocardial infarction was, however, explained by local area levels of smoking, diabetes and physical activity.

Editor's Choice - Impact of initial hospital diagnosis on mortality for acute myocardial infarction: A national cohort study.

AIMS: Early and accurate diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is central to successful treatment and improved outcomes. We aimed to investigate the impact of the initial hospital diagnosis on mortality for patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cohort study using data from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project of patients discharged with a final diagnosis of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI, n=221,635) and non-STEMI (NSTEMI, n=342,777) between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2013 in all acute hospitals ( n = 243) in England and Wales. Overall, 168,534 (29.9%) patients had an initial diagnosis which was not the same as their final diagnosis. After multivariable adjustment, for STEMI a change from an initial diagnosis of NSTEMI (time ratio 0.97, 95% confidence interval 0.92-1.01) and chest pain of uncertain cause (0.98, 0.89-1.07) was not associated with a significant reduction in time to death, whereas for other initial diagnoses the time to death was significantly reduced by 21% (0.78, 0.74-0.83). For NSTEMI, after multivariable adjustment, a change from an initial diagnosis of STEMI was associated with a reduction in time to death of 10% (time ratio 0.90, 95% confidence interval 0.83-0.97), but not for chest pain of uncertain cause (0.99, 0.96-1.02). Patients with NSTEMI who had other initial diagnoses had a significant 14% reduction in their time to death (time ratio 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.84-0.88). STEMI and NSTEMI with other initial diagnoses had low rates of pre-hospital electrocardiograph (24.3% and 21.5%), aspirin on hospitalisation (61.6% and 48.5%), care by a cardiologist (60.0% and 51.5%), invasive coronary procedures (38.8 % and 29.2%), cardiac rehabilitation (68.9% and 62.6%) and guideline indicated medications at time of discharge from hospital. Had the 3.3% of patients with STEMI and 17.9% of NSTEMI who were admitted with other initial diagnoses received an initial diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI, then 33 and 218 deaths per year might have been prevented, respectively. CONCLUSION: Nearly one in three patients with acute myocardial infarction had other diagnoses at first medical contact, who less frequently received guideline indicated care and had significantly higher mortality rates. There is substantial potential, greater for NSTEMI than STEMI, to improve outcomes through earlier and more accurate diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Association of frontal QRS-T angle--age risk score on admission electrocardiogram with mortality in patients admitted with an acute coronary syndrome.

Risk assessment is central to the management of acute coronary syndromes. Often, however, assessment is not complete until the troponin concentration is available. Using 2 multicenter prospective observational studies (Evaluation of Methods and Management of Acute Coronary Events [EMMACE] 2, test cohort, 1,843 patients; and EMMACE-1, validation cohort, 550 patients) of unselected patients with acute coronary syndromes, a point-of-admission risk stratification tool using frontal QRS-T angle derived from automated measurements and age for the prediction of 30-day and 2-year mortality was evaluated. Two-year mortality was lowest in patients with frontal QRS-T angles <38° and highest in patients with frontal QRS-T angles >104° (44.7% vs 14.8%, p <0.001). Increasing frontal QRS-T angle-age risk (FAAR) scores were associated with increasing 30-day and 2-year mortality (for 2-year mortality, score 0 = 3.7%, score 4 = 57%; p <0.001). The FAAR score was a good discriminator of mortality (C statistics 0.74 [95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.78] at 30 days and 0.77 [95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.79] at 2 years), maintained its performance in the EMMACE-1 cohort at 30 days (C statistics 0.76 (95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.8] at 30 days and 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.83] at 2 years), in men and women, in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, and compared favorably with the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) score. The integrated discrimination improvement (age to FAAR score at 30 days and at 2 years in EMMACE-1 and EMMACE-2) was p <0.001. In conclusion, the FAAR score is a point-of-admission risk tool that predicts 30-day and 2-year mortality from 2 variables across a spectrum of patients with acute coronary syndromes. It does not require the results of biomarker assays or rely on the subjective interpretation of electrocardiograms.

Funnel plots, performance variation and the Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project 2003-2004.

BACKGROUND: Clinical governance requires health care professionals to improve standards of care and has resulted in comparison of clinical performance data. The Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project (a UK cardiology dataset) tabulates its performance. However funnel plots are the display method of choice for institutional comparison. We aimed to demonstrate that funnel plots may be derived from MINAP data and allow more meaningful interpretation of data. METHODS: We examined the attainment of National Service Framework standards for all hospitals (n = 230) and all patients (n = 99,133) in the MINAP database between 1st April 2003 and 31st March 2004. We generated funnel plots (with control limits at 3 sigma) of Door to Needle and Call to Needle thrombolysis times, and the use of aspirin, beta-blockers and statins post myocardial infarction. RESULTS: Only 87,427 patients fulfilled criteria for analysis of the use of secondary prevention drugs and 15,111 patients for analysis by Door to Needle and Call to Needle times (163 hospitals achieved the standards for Door to Needle times and 215 were within or above their control limits). One hundred and sixteen hospitals fell outside the 'within 25%' and 'more than 25%' standards for Call to Needle times, but 28 were below the lower control limits. Sixteen hospitals failed to reach the standards for aspirin usage post AMI and 24 remained below the lower control limits. Thirty hospitals were below the lower CL for beta-blocker usage and 49 outside the standard. Statin use was comparable. CONCLUSION: Funnel plots may be applied to a complex dataset and allow visual comparison of data derived from multiple health-care units. Variation is readily identified permitting units to appraise their practices so that effective quality improvement may take place.