Francisco J Prado-Galbarro1,2, Ana E Gamiño-Arroyo1,3, Carlos Sánchez-Piedra4, Andrés Sánchez-Pájaro2, Antonio Sarría-Santamera1,5,6,7. 1. Research Unit, National School of Public Health, Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. 2. Center for Population Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. 3. Infectology Unit, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City, Mexico. 4. Research Unit, Spanish Society of Rheumatology. Madrid, Spain. 5. Faculty of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares. Madrid, Spain. 6. Health Services Research on Chronic Patients Network. Madrid, Spain. 7. IMIENS, UNED. Madrid, Spain.
Abstract
Background: Heart failure (HF) is a serious health-care problem. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the first acute episode of decompensated HF that requires a hospitalization on the survival of newly diagnosed cases of HF with follow-up for 5 years in primary care (PC). Methods: This was a longitudinal observational study of a retrospective cohort of patients with information extracted from electronic medical records of PC. Incident cases of HF from 2006 to 2010 or until death were studied through a survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards multivariate regression, after applying the propensity score matching technique (PSM). Results: A total of 3061 new cases of HF were identified. The PSM analysis was performed with 529 couples, with a total of 1058 patients. 5-year survival was 65% in no hospitalized and 53% in hospitalized patients. Factors with an increased risk of mortality were having prescribed nitrates (heart rate [HR] = 1.56; 1.08-2.24). Factors with protective effect were having received the annual influenza vaccine (HR = 0.04; 0.01-0.15) and having been indicated X-rays by PC physician (HR = 0.76; 0.67-0.88). Conclusions: The findings indicate that hospitalizations are associated with a significant increase in mortality in patients recently diagnosed with HF. It is important to reinforce the need for the prevention of acute decompensated HF and for strategies to improve post-discharge outcomes. Copyright:
Background: Heart failure (HF) is a serious health-care problem. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the first acute episode of decompensated HF that requires a hospitalization on the survival of newly diagnosed cases of HF with follow-up for 5 years in primary care (PC). Methods: This was a longitudinal observational study of a retrospective cohort of patients with information extracted from electronic medical records of PC. Incident cases of HF from 2006 to 2010 or until death were studied through a survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards multivariate regression, after applying the propensity score matching technique (PSM). Results: A total of 3061 new cases of HF were identified. The PSM analysis was performed with 529 couples, with a total of 1058 patients. 5-year survival was 65% in no hospitalized and 53% in hospitalized patients. Factors with an increased risk of mortality were having prescribed nitrates (heart rate [HR] = 1.56; 1.08-2.24). Factors with protective effect were having received the annual influenza vaccine (HR = 0.04; 0.01-0.15) and having been indicated X-rays by PC physician (HR = 0.76; 0.67-0.88). Conclusions: The findings indicate that hospitalizations are associated with a significant increase in mortality in patients recently diagnosed with HF. It is important to reinforce the need for the prevention of acute decompensated HF and for strategies to improve post-discharge outcomes. Copyright: