Connected care for endocarditis and heart failure patients: a hospital-at-home programme.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare expenditure in the Netherlands is increasing at such a rate that currently 1 in 7 employees are working in healthcare/curative care. Future increases in healthcare spending will be restricted, given that 10% of the country's gross domestic product is spent on healthcare and the fact that there is a workforce shortage. Dutch healthcare consists of a curative sector (mostly hospitals) and nursing care at home. The two entities have separate national budgets (€25 bn + €20 bn respectively) AIM: In a proof of concept, we explored a new hospital-at-home model combining hospital cure and nursing home care budgets. This study tests the feasibility of (1) providing hospital care at home, (2) combining financial budgets, (3) increasing workforces by combining teams and (4) improving perspectives and increasing patient and staff satisfaction. RESULTS: We tested the feasibility of combining the budgets of a teaching hospital and home care group for cardiology. The budgets were sufficient to hire three nurse practitioners who were trained to work together with 12 home care cardiovascular nurses to provide care in a hospital-at-home setting, including intravenous treatment. Subsequently, the hospital-at-home programme for endocarditis and heart failure treatment was developed and a virtual ward was built within the e­patient record. CONCLUSION: The current model demonstrates a proof of concept for a hospital-at-home programme providing hospital-level curative care at home by merging hospital and home care nursing staff and budgets. From the clinical perspective, ambulatory intravenous antibiotic and diuretic treatment at home was effective in safely achieving a reduced length of stay of 847 days in endocarditis patients and 201 days in heart-failure-at-home patients. We call for further studies to facilitate combined home care and hospital cure budgets in cardiology to confirm this concept.

Nationwide claims data validated for quality assessments in acute myocardial infarction in the Netherlands.

INTRODUCTION: Since health insurance is compulsory in the Netherlands, the centrally registered medical claims data might pose a unique opportunity to evaluate quality of (cardiac) care on a national level without additional collection of data. However, validation of these claims data has not yet been assessed. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: National claims data ('national registry') were compared with data collected by patient records reviews in four representative hospitals ('validation registry'). In both registries, we extracted the national diagnosis codes for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction of 2012 and 2013. Additionally, data on medication use at one year after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was extracted from the Dutch pharmacy information systems and also validated by local patient records reviews. The data were compared at three stages: 1) validation of diagnosis and treatment coding; 2) validation of the hospital where follow-up has taken place; 3) validation of follow-up medical treatment after 365 days. RESULTS: In total, 3,980 patients ('national registry') and 4,014 patients ('validation registry') were compared at baseline. After one-year follow-up, 2,776 and 2,701 patients, respectively, were evaluated. Baseline characteristics, diagnosis and individual medication were comparable between the two registries. Of all 52,672 AMI patients in the Netherlands in 2012 and 2013, 81% used aspirin, 76% used P2Y12 inhibitors, 85% used statins, 82% used beta-blockers and 74% angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II antagonists. Optimal medical treatment was achieved in 49% of the patients with AMI. CONCLUSION: Nationwide routinely collected claims data in patients with an acute myocardial infarction are highly accurate. This offers an opportunity for use in quality assessments of cardiac care.

In search of an efficient strategy to monitor disease status of chronic heart failure outpatients: added value of blood biomarkers to clinical assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Blood biomarkers have the potential to monitor the severity of chronic heart failure (CHF). Studies correlating repeated measurements of blood biomarkers with repeatedly assessed New York Heart Association (NYHA) class over a prolonged follow-up period, and concomitantly investigating their associations with clinical endpoints, have not yet been performed. METHODS: Between 2011-2013, 263 CHF patients were included. At inclusion and subsequently every 3 months, we measured N­terminal pro-B-type natriuretic (NT-proBNP), high-sensitivity troponin T (Hs-TnT) and C­reactive protein (CRP), and assessed NYHA class. The primary endpoint comprised heart failure hospitalisation, cardiovascular mortality, cardiac transplantation or left ventricular assist device implantation. Time-dependent Cox models were used. RESULTS: Mean age was 67 ± 13 years, 72% were men and 27% were in NYHA class III-IV. We obtained 886 repeated measures (median 3 [IQR 2-5] per patient). The primary endpoint was reached in 41 patients during a median follow-up of 1.0 [0.6-1.4] year. Repeatedly measured NT-proBNP and Hs-TnT were significantly associated with repeatedly assessed NYHA class, whereas CRP was not (NT-proBNP: ß [95% CI]: 1.56 [1.17-2.06]ln(ng/l) increase per point increase in NYHA class, p = 0.002; HsTNT: ß [95% CI]: 1.58 [1.21-2.07]). Serially measured NT-proBNP (HR [95% CI]:2.86 [1.73-4.73]), CRP (1.69 [1.21-2.34]) and NYHA class (2.33 [1.51-3.62]) were positively and independently associated with the primary endpoint, whereas Hs-TnT lost statistical significance after multivariable adjustment. A model containing serially measured NYHA class and NT-proBNP displayed a C-index of 0.84, while serially measured NYHA class and CRP showed a C-index of 0.82. CONCLUSION: Temporal NT-proBNP, CRP and NYHA class patterns are independently associated with adverse clinical outcome. Serially measured NT-proBNP and NYHA class are best suited for monitoring CHF outpatients.

NVVC/NHJ Durrer prizes 2014.

At the annual 2015 Spring Congress of the NVVC, the Durrer prizes were awarded to the authors of two of the best original/review articles published in the year 2014, one paper being more basically oriented and one paper being more clinically oriented. This has been an annual tradition since the year 2006.

The year of transparency: measuring quality of cardiac care.

The assessment of quality of care is becoming increasingly important in healthcare, both globally and in the Netherlands. The Dutch Minister of Health declared 2015 to be the year of transparency, thereby aiming to improve quality of care by transparent reporting of outcome data. With the increasing importance of transparency, knowledge on quality measurement will be essential for a cardiologist in daily clinical care. To that end, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the Dutch healthcare structure, quality indicators and the current and future assessment of quality of cardiac care in the Netherlands.

NVVC/NHJ Durrer prizes 2013.

At the annual Spring Congress of the NVVC, the Durrer prizes were awarded to the authors of two of the best original/review articles published in the year 2013, one paper being more basically oriented and one paper being more clinically oriented. This annual tradition has existed since the year 2006.

Success of electrocardioversion on the elderly.

BACKGROUND: There are two treatment strategies for medication-resistant atrial fibrillation (AF): rhythm control or rate control. It has been suggested that rate control is a valid strategy in well-tolerated AF because it does not result in increased mortality. We aimed to investigate the 1-year outcome of rhythm control in an elderly population of AF patients. METHOD: The study was retrospective, using the data collected from electrocardioversions (ECV) of elderly patients and the data of their follow-up visits to the outpatient clinic. We looked for recurrence of AF within the first year after ECV. Furthermore, we investigated possible predictors of recurrence. RESULTS: From February 2008 till November 2011, 436 consecutive elderly patients admitted for ECV were included. The 1-year recurrence rate of AF was 51.3 %. We found that being female and a large left atrial diameter were independent predictors of recurrence. CONCLUSION: The AF recurrence rate in our elderly population is comparable with reported AF recurrence rates in a younger population; we conclude that rhythm control can be regarded as the viable strategy in persistent AF in elderly patients.

Follow-up of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy: comparison of coronary artery disease and dilated cardiomyopathy.

PURPOSE: Since several large trials have proven the effectiveness of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, disadvantages have become more apparent. As the prognosis of patients with cardiovascular diseases is improving, assessment of ICD patients and re-evaluation of the current guidelines is mandatory. We aimed to evaluate differences in mortality and occurrence of (in)appropriate shocks in ICD patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) or dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). METHODS: In a large teaching hospital, all consecutive patients with systolic dysfunction due to CAD or DCM who received an ICD with and without resynchronisation therapy, were collected in a database. RESULTS: A total of 320 consecutive patients (age 67 ± 10 years) were classified as CAD patients and 178 (63 ± 11 years) as DCM patients. Median follow-up was 40 months (interquartile range [IQR] 23─57 months). All-cause mortality was 14 % (CAD 15 % vs DCM 13 %). Appropriate shocks occurred in 13 % of all patients (CAD 15 % vs DCM 11 %, p = 0.12) and inappropriate shocks occurred in 10 % (CAD 8 % vs DCM 12 %, p = 0.27). Multivariate analysis demonstrated impaired left ventricular ejection fraction, QRS >120, age ≥75 years and low estimated glomerular filtration rate as predictors for all-cause mortality. Predictors for inappropriate shocks were permanent and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. CONCLUSION: Mortality rates were similar in patients with CAD and DCM who received an ICD. Furthermore, no differences were found in the occurrence of appropriate and inappropriate ICD interventions between these patient groups.

Temporal evolution of anxiety and depression in chronic heart failure and its association with clinical outcome.

BACKGROUND: Although anxiety and depression have been associated with adverse outcomes in chronic heart failure (HF), data on temporal evolution of these symptoms are scarce. We aimed to investigate the association between repeatedly measured depression and anxiety symptoms and clinical outcome in chronic HF patients. METHODS: In this prospective observational study, outpatients with chronic HF were included and followed-up for a maximum of 2.5 years. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) questionnaire was conducted every six months. The primary endpoint was a composite of HF hospitalization, cardiovascular death, heart transplantation and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. Cox and joint models were used to investigate the association between the HADS score and the endpoint. RESULTS: A total of 362 patients filled out a median (25th-75th percentile) of 3 [2-4] questionnaires each. Mean ± SD age was 63 ± 13 years, 72% were men. Anxiety scores remained relatively stable leading up to the endpoint, while depression scores increased. Higher baseline depression scores were significantly associated with the endpoint (hazard ratio [HR] 1.68 and 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.19-2.36 per log(score+1), p = 0.003), while higher baseline anxiety scores did not reach statistical significance (HR [95% CI] 1.34 [0.99-1.83], p = 0.061). When repeatedly measured, both higher anxiety (HR [95% CI] 1.57[1.07-2.30], p = 0.022) and depression (HR [95% CI] 2.04 [1.39-3.06], p < 0.001) scores were significantly associated with the endpoint. CONCLUSION: Serial measurements of depression and anxiety symptoms identify chronic HF patients with increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes. Screening for both disorders should be considered in clinical practice.

NVVC/NHJ Durrer Prizes 2012.

At the annual Spring Congress of the NVVC the Durrer prizes were awarded to the authors of the best original/review articles published in the year 2012, one paper being more basically-oriented and one paper being more clinically-oriented. This annual tradition exists already since the year 2006.

Prognostic value of temporal patterns of left atrial reservoir strain in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether repeatedly measured left atrial reservoir strain (LASr) in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) patients provides incremental prognostic value over a single baseline LASr value, and whether temporal patterns of LASr provide incremental prognostic value over temporal patterns of other echocardiographic markers and NT-proBNP. METHODS: In this prospective observational study, 153 patients underwent 6-monthly echocardiography, during a median follow-up of 2.5 years. Speckle tracking echocardiography was used to measure LASr. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for LASr from Cox models (baseline) and joint models (repeated measurements). The primary endpoint (PEP) comprised HF hospitalization, left ventricular assist device, heart transplantation, and cardiovascular death. RESULTS: Mean age was 58 ± 11 years, 76% were men, 82% were in NYHA class I/II, mean LASr was 20.9% ± 11.3%, and mean LVEF was 29% ± 10%. PEP was reached by 50 patients. Baseline and repeated measurements of LASr (HR per SD change (95% CI) 0.20 (0.10-0.41) and (0.13 (0.10-0.29), respectively) were both significantly associated with the PEP, independent of both baseline and repeated measurements of other echo-parameters and NT-proBNP. Although LASr was persistently lower over time in patients with PEP, temporal trajectories did not diverge in patients with versus without the PEP as the PEP approached. CONCLUSION: LASr was associated with adverse events in HFrEF patients, independent of baseline and repeated other echo-parameters and NT-proBNP. Temporal trajectories of LASr showed decreased but stable values in patients with the PEP, and do not provide incremental prognostic value for clinical practice compared to single measurements of LASr.

Intensive management of hyperglycaemia in acute coronary syndromes. Study design and rationale of the BIOMArCS 2 glucose trial.

BACKGROUND: Elevated admission plasma glucose is associated with increased mortality in patients who are admitted with an acute coronary syndrome. This may be mediated by increased inflammation, apoptosis and coagulation, and by a disturbed endothelial function that can be found in hyperglycaemic patients. Insulin has several characteristics that may potentially counteract these mechanisms. METHODS: The BIOMArCS programme is a multi-centre initiative and currently consists of three different studies. The effects of acute coronary syndrome on acute biomarkers washout are studied in the BIOMArCS pilot and the value of biomarkers in predicting upcoming acute coronary syndrome events is studied in BIOMArCS 1. The third study (BIOMArCS 2 glucose), which will be presented here, investigates the effectiveness and safety of intensive glucose level control compared with conventional glucose management in patients with acute coronary syndrome and an admission plasma glucose of 7.8-16 mmol/l. In BIOMArCS 2 glucose, a total of 300 patients without insulin-treated diabetes mellitus will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either intensive or conventional glucose management on top of standard medical care. The primary endpoint is infarct size as expressed by the cardiac troponin T level 72 h after admission. To study the metabolic effects of insulin administration, we will investigate biomarker washout patterns of various metabolic mechanisms up to 7 days after admission. These markers will address inflammation, oxidative stress, hypercoagulability, endothelial activation and vasodilatation. IMPLICATIONS: Current acute coronary syndrome guidelines lack a clear strategy for hyperglycaemia treatment. This study will extend our knowledge on this matter as it may clarify mechanisms and generate hypotheses of if and how myocardial infarct size may be limited by glucose management at admission.

Long-term Clinical Outcome and MIBI SPECT Parameters in Percutaneous Coronary Interventions.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the preferred treatment option for acute myocardial infarction (MI). Off-site PCI reduces time-to-treatment, which could potentially lead to enhanced clinical outcomes. Therefore, we investigated whether off-site PCI improves 5-year clinical outcomes compared with on-site PCI and whether this is related to in-hospital (99m)Tc-sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography (MIBI SPECT) parameters. METHODS: We describe the 5-year follow-up for a combined endpoint of death or re-infarction in 128 patients with acute MI who were randomly assigned to undergo primary PCI at the off-site centre (n = 68) or to transferral to an on-site centre (n = 60). Three days after PCI, MIBI SPECT was performed to estimate infarct size. A multivariate Cox regression model was created to study the relation between MIBI SPECT parameters and long-term clinical outcomes. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 5.8 ± 1.1 years, 25 events occurred. Off-site PCI significantly reduced door-to-balloon time compared with on-site PCI (94 ± 54 versus 125 ± 59 min, p = 0.003). However, infarct size (17 ± 15 versus 14 ± 12%, p = 0.34) and 5-year death or infarct rate (21% versus 18%, p = 0.75) were comparable between treatment centres. With multivariate analysis, only Killip class ≥2 and Q wave MI, but not scintigraphic data, predicted long-term clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: Off-site PCI reduced door-to-balloon time with a comparable 5-year death or infarct rate. Parameters from resting MIBI SPECT on day 3 after MI did not predict long-term clinical outcomes.

Sex-specific temporal evolution of circulating biomarkers in patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to assess differences in clinical characteristics, prognosis, and the temporal evolution of circulating biomarkers in male and female patients with HFrEF. METHODS: We included 250 patients (66 women) with chronic heart failure (CHF) between 2011 and 2013 and performed trimonthly blood sampling during a median follow-up of 2.2 years [median (IQR) of 8 (5-10) urine and 9 (5-10) plasma samples per patient]. After completion of follow-up we measured 8 biomarkers. The primary endpoint (PE) was the composite of cardiac death, cardiac transplantation, left ventricular assist device implantation, and hospitalization due to acute or worsened CHF. Joint models were used to determine whether there were differences in the temporal patterns of the biomarkers between men and women as the PE approached. RESULTS: A total of 66 patients reached the PE of which 52 (78.8%) were male and 14 (21.2%) were female. The temporal patterns of all studied biomarkers were associated with the PE, and overall showed disadvantageous changes as the PE approached. For NT-proBNP, HsTnT, and CRP, women showed higher levels over the entire follow-up duration and concomitant numerically higher hazard ratios [NT-proBNP: women: HR(95%CI) 7.57 (3.17-21.93), men: HR(95%CI) 3.14 (2.09-4.79), p for interaction = 0.104, HsTnT: women: HR(95%CI) 6.38 (2.18-22.46), men: HR(95%CI) 4.91 (2.58-9.39), p for interaction = 0.704, CRP: women: HR(95%CI) 7.48 (3.43-19.53), men: HR(95%CI) 3.29 [2.27-5.44], p for interaction = 0.106). In contrast, temporal patterns of glomerular and tubular renal markers showed similar associations with the PE in men and women. CONCLUSION: Although interaction terms are not statistically significant, the associations of temporal patterns of NT-proBNP, HsTnT, and CRP appear more outspoken in women than in men with HFrEF, whereas associations seem similar for temporal patterns of creatinine, eGFR, Cystatin C, KIM-1 and NAG. Larger studies are needed to confirm these potential sex differences.

The post-infarction nurse practitioner project: A prospective study comparing nurse intervention with conventional care in a non-high-risk myocardial infarction population.

OBJECTIVES: To confirm the feasibility of nurse practitioner interventionin non-high-risk patients with recent myocardial infarction (MI). DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Acute coronary care unit in a teaching hospital. METHODS: We performed an open-label feasibility study to identify non-high-risk MI patients and evaluate the outcome of a new nurse practitioner intervention programme. The initial pilot phase served to identify the non-high-risk population. In the subsequent confirmation phase, 500 consecutive non-high-risk post-MI patients with preserved LV function without heart failure were included to receive nurse practitioner management. The nurse practitioner intervention started on transfer from the coronary care unit to the cardiology ward and continued thereafter for up to 30 days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time to first event analysis of death from all causes or repeat myocardial infarction. RESULTS: 500 Patients without signs of heart failure or depressed LV function were identified as nonhigh- risk and eligible for inclusion in the nurse practitioner intervention programme. In the implementation phase, none of the patients died and 0.9% developed a repeat myocardial infarction after 30 days of follow-up. Compared with the pilot phase, patients in the implementation phase spent fewer days in hospital (mean 11.1 versus 6.2 days; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: It is feasible to identify non-high-risk post-MI patients, who can be managed adequately by a nurse practitioner. Embedding experienced nurse practitioners within critical care pathways may result in significant decreases in length of hospital stay. (Neth Heart J 2009;17:61-7.Neth Heart J 2009;17:61-7.).