Comparative analysis of pharmacotherapy for patients with coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes at various healthcare stages

Aim. To study the features of treatment of patients with various types of coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at various healthcare stages.

Material and methods. The comparative clinical study included 412 patients of both sexes with acute and chronic coronary artery disease. Depending on the glycemic status and CAD type, patients were divided into four subgroups: subgroup 1a (n=100, 56,6±0,96 years, male/female 67/33) — with acute CAD and T2D; subgroup 1b (n=106, 58,7±1,01 years, male/female 75/31) — with acute CAD without T2D; subgroup 2a (n=102, 57,9±1,04 years, male/female 72/30) — with chronic CAD and T2D; subgroup 2b (n=104, 60,2±0,9 years, 69/35) — with chronic CAD without T2D. The selection and mean doses of standard and hypoglycemic therapy were analyzed.

Results. Initially, 86% and 81% of patients with diabetes in subgroups 1a and 2a adhered to glucose-lowering therapy. Among patients with chronic CAD, more than 1/4 (26,4%) received insulin therapy versus 2% in the group of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and diabetes. After discharge from hospital, oral hypoglycemic therapy was prescribed to 74% of patients with ACS and 48% of patients with chronic CAD. The prescription of insulin therapy for people with ACS increased 5 times (up to 10% of the total number of patients with ACS and T2D). By the time of hospital admission, 70% and 71,5% of patients with ACS and chronic CAD with diabetes received acetylsalicylic acid as an antiplatelet agent, respectively. During hospitalization, all patients with acute CAD were prescribed dual antiplatelet therapy, as well as triple antiplatelet therapy in the case of atrial fibrillation/flutter. It is noteworthy that in the group of patients with chronic CAD, less than 70% received statins. In patients with chronic CAD and diabetes, this parameter was even lower, amounting to 59,8%. At the outpatient stage, all patients, with the exception of the group with chronic CAD without diabetes, took beta-blockers (up to 65%). In the hospital, the use of beta blockers increased to 95%. During inpatient treatment, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and sartans were prescribed 1,5-2 times more often than in the prehospital stage.

Conclusion. The study indicates insufficient prescription of standard CAD and glucose-lowering therapy. Careful inpatient selection of therapy requires continuity at the outpatient stage.

Acute Coronary Syndrome after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: State of the Problem and Clinical Practice Data

Aim. To study the prevalence, clinical and endovascular predictors, causes and timing of the development of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in patients who had previously undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), as well as the clinical features of the disease and lipid spectrum parameters.

Material and methods. The prospective study included 768 patients successively hospitalized from 01.01.2019 to 01.01.2020 in the Regional cardiovascular center, undergoing to emergency coronary angiography.

Results. The main group included 768 patients who underwent emergency coronary angiography for ACS. 90 of them had previously undergone PCI (11.7%). Men prevailed (66.7%), the average age was 62 years. 25.5% of patients underwent ACS within a year after coronary stenting, the mean time from PCI to ACS was 43 months. Most often, there was ACS without ST segment elevation (80%). The results of a retrospective analysis of the first PCI showed that 89.7% of patients underwent urgent PCI, 77.8% of patients received bare metal stents. In 67.1% of patients, 1 stent was implanted, the average diameter was 3.2 mm, the average length was 22 mm. Thromboaspiration was performed in 12% of cases, predilatation in 25%, and NC postdilation in 41.3% of cases. Complications of PCI developed in 9% of patients. Stent thrombosis was diagnosed in 7.8% of cases, significant restenosis in 35.6%. Repeated stenting due to ACS was performed in 64.4% of patients, of which 74.6% received 1 stent; average diameter 3.4 mm, average length 24.0 mm. Predilatation was performed in 52.9% of cases, thromboaspiration – in 41.2%, and NC-postdilation – in 86.7% of cases. Complications of PCI developed in 10%. In addition, 99% of patients had significant dyslipidemia. The average cholesterol level was 4.91 mmol/L, the average low-density lipoprotein level was 2.94 mmol/L.

Conclusion. Patients after PCI are 12% of group with ACS in clinical practice of the Regional Vascular Center. The most common predictor of recurrent atherothrombotic events is bare metal stent implantation as well as dyslipidemia.

Adherence to Visits to Medical Institutions and Quality of Therapy after Acute Coronary Syndrome (according to the LIS Registry 3)

Aim. The aim of the research is to evaluate the relationship between patients' adherence to visiting polyclinics after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the quality of the therapy they receive.

Material and methods. The study was conducted on the basis of the LIS registers (LIS and LIS-3) (Lyubertsy study of mortality) in the Lyubertsy district of the Moscow region. To clarify the vital status of all patients discharged in the first 9 months of 2014 and 2018. from Lyubertsy district hospital 2, contact was established no earlier than 1 year after discharge, and in case of death, its cause was clarified. In the course of a telephone survey, information was obtained on the therapy taken, adherence to visits to medical institutions, a record of cases of cardiovascular events and invasive treatment, hospitalizations due to worsening of the course of the underlying disease for the period after discharge from the hospital was carried out. The search for patients who did not answer the phone call was carried out by studying the archives of polyclinics, using the Megaclinic statistical database, and the data of the individual rehabilitation program for the disabled. In the course of a telephone survey, the response was 60.5%, the search for the remaining patients through statistical databases, the archive of polyclinics made it possible to increase the total response to 87.2%.

Results. In the LIS-3 registry, out of 104 patients discharged in 2014, the status was determined in 90 (86.5%) patients, out of 223 patients in 2018 – in 195 (87.4%) patients. During the survey, it was found that 172 patients are observed after discharge from the hospital, 53 patients are not observed at all in the medical facility after discharge. 11 (4.9%) people did not take any groups of medications at the time of the survey. In the group of patients who are highly committed to attending a health facility, the best quality of taking essential medications after discharge from the hospital was noted according to the survey: statins (88.2%, p<0.001), beta-blockers (86.4%, p<0.001) and antiplatelets (90.9%, p=0.001). In both groups, committed and not committed to attending a medical facility, there is a negative dynamics in the quality of taking medications after discharge from the hospital, however, in the group of patients committed to attending a medical facility, it was noted that the odds of taking antiplatelet agents after discharge was 3.4 times higher (OR 3.449, p=0.002), beta-blockers – 4 times (OR 4.103, p<0.001), statins – 4.5 times (OR 4.450, p<0.001), in relation to the group of patients who are not observed in the medical facility after discharge from the hospital.

Conclusion. 1-6 years after discharge from the hospital after the reference event, the quality of therapy deteriorated significantly in both groups, mostly in non-adherent patients. Significant differences in the quality of medication intake (antiplatelet agents, statins, β-blockers) were noted in the group of adherents to visiting health care facilities in comparison with those who were not committed to visiting health facilities. It is obvious that high adherence to visits to healthcare facilities after discharge from the hospital is associated with better quality of medication intake. Despite improvements in the quality of adherence to clinical recommendations, the percentage of patients who independently refuse to take drug therapy (4.9%), regardless of visits to healthcare facilities after discharge from the hospital, remains. 

Optimal Medical Therapy for Chronic Coronary Syndrome: Realities and Prospects

Combination therapy is the standard of treatment for virtually all current non-communicable diseases, primarily chronic coronary heart disease, in modern terminology - "chronic coronary syndrome" (CSS), arterial hypertension, chronic heart failure, diabetes mellitus. The need for a combination of drugs increases even more with comorbidity, which is a typical situation in clinical practice. The recently accumulated material requires a review of the possibility of percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary bypass surgery in prolonging the life of patients with CCS, focusing on providing optimal medical therapy (OMT) for each patient with CCS, based on long-term treatment with antiplatelet agents, statins, angiotensin converting enzyme in-hibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers. OMT aimed at preventing cardiovascular events and relieving symptoms in patients with CCS requires maximum commitment - a key factor in achieving therapeutic goals. Insufficient adherence of patients to prescribed therapy and its absence are the main barriers to increasing the survival rate of patients with cardiovascular diseases in primary and secondary prevention in the Russian Federation, as evidenced by numerous registers. The desire of the doctor to individualize treatment, which inevitably complicates the use of drugs, pushes patient adherence to treatment into the background. As a result, the patient's lack of commitment to each of the pharmaceuticals destroys the applicability of the OMT concept. A great achievement of the current stage of development of clinical cardiology and the pharmaceutical industry is the ability to offer patients optimal single pill combinations (SPC) in terms of effectiveness, tolerability, drug interactions, and ease of use. The article substantiates the prospects for a successful solution of this key problem by using a new generation of SPC components belonging to different pharmacological groups. The combination of three components (lisinopril, amlodipine and rosuvastatin), each of which has pleiotropic effects, provides a multi-targeted effect with a single dose, with the possibility of individualization of therapy, which is provided by four dosage options within this SPC.