Elderly patients with acute coronary syndromes admitted to Italian intensive cardiac care units

Complications during hospitalization and at 30 days in the intensive cardiac care unit for patients with ST-elevation versus non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

BACKGROUND

In this meta-analysis, we aimed to systematically compare the complications during hospitalization and at 30 days respectively, in intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU) for patients with ST elevation (STE) vs non-STE acute coronary syndrome (NSTE ACS).

METHODS

Electronic search databases including http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and MEDLINE were searched for publications comparing complications observed in STE ACS vs NSTE ACS patients admitted in ICCU, intensive care unit (ICU) or coronary care unit (CCU). This is a meta-analysis and risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to illustrate the data following analysis by the RevMan 5.3 software.

RESULTS

Six studies consisting of a total number of 25,604 participants (12,880 participants admitted due to STE ACS and 12,724 participants admitted due to NSTE ACS) were included. Our results showed that the total outcomes including severely abnormal electrocardiography (ECG) (RR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.27-1.73; P = .00001) and mortality (RR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.64-2.04; P = .00001) were significantly higher in patients with STE ACS. Re-infarction (RR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.62-1.19; P = .37) and heart failure (RR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.88-1.23; P = .62) were similarly manifested in those patients with ACS. However, the risk for recurrent angina was significantly higher with NSTE ACS (RR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.46-0.92; P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with STE ACS were at a higher risk for in-hospital and 30 days mortality in this analysis. In hospital, severely abnormal ECG was also significantly higher in this category of patients compared to NSTE ACS. However, re-admission for heart failure and re-infarction was similar in both groups. Future studies should be able to confirm this hypothesis.

The Difficult Evolution of Intensive Cardiac Care Units: An Overview of the BLITZ-3 Registry and Other Italian Surveys

Coronary care units, initially developed to treat acute myocardial infarction, have moved to the care of a broader population of acute cardiac patients and are currently defined as Intensive Cardiac Care Units (ICCUs). However, very limited data are available on such evolution. Since 2008, in Italy, several surveys have been designed to assess ICCUs' activities. The largest and most comprehensive of these, the BLITZ-3 Registry, observed that patients admitted are mainly elderly males and suffer from several comorbidities. Direct admission to ICCUs through the Emergency Medical System was rather rare. Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) account for more than half of the discharge diagnoses. However, numbers of acute heart failure (AHF) admissions are substantial. Interestingly, age, resources availability, and networking have a strong influence on ICCUs' epidemiology and activities. In fact, while patients with ACS concentrate in ICCUs with interventional capabilities, older patients with AHF or non-ACS, non-AHF cardiac diseases prevail in peripheral ICCUs. In conclusion, although ACS is still the core business of ICCUs, aging, comorbidities, increasing numbers of non-ACS, technological improvements, and resources availability have had substantial effects on epidemiology and activities of ICCUs. The Italian surveys confirm these changes and call for a substantial update of ICCUs' organization and competences.

Editor's Choice - Acute Cardiovascular Care Association Position Paper on Intensive Cardiovascular Care Units: An update on their definition, structure, organisation and function

Acute cardiovascular care has progressed considerably since the last position paper was published 10 years ago. It is now a well-defined, complex field with demanding multidisciplinary teamworking. The Acute Cardiovascular Care Association has provided this update of the 2005 position paper on acute cardiovascular care organisation, using a multinational working group. The patient population has changed, and intensive cardiovascular care units now manage a large range of conditions from those simply requiring specialised monitoring, to critical cardiovascular diseases with associated multi-organ failure. To describe better intensive cardiovascular care units case mix, acuity of care has been divided into three levels, and then defining intensive cardiovascular care unit functional organisation. For each level of intensive cardiovascular care unit, this document presents the aims of the units, the recommended management structure, the optimal number of staff, the need for specially trained cardiologists and cardiovascular nurses, the desired equipment and architecture, and the interaction with other departments in the hospital and other intensive cardiovascular care units in the region/area. This update emphasises cardiologist training, referring to the recently updated Acute Cardiovascular Care Association core curriculum on acute cardiovascular care. The training of nurses in acute cardiovascular care is additionally addressed. Intensive cardiovascular care unit expertise is not limited to within the unit's geographical boundaries, extending to different specialties and subspecialties of cardiology and other specialties in order to optimally manage the wide scope of acute cardiovascular conditions in frequently highly complex patients. This position paper therefore addresses the need for the inclusion of acute cardiac care and intensive cardiovascular care units within a hospital network, linking university medical centres, large community hospitals, and smaller hospitals with more limited capabilities.

The probability of having advanced medical interventions is associated with age in out-of-hospital life-threatening situations

Background

The use of out-of-hospital emergency medical services by old and very old individuals is increasing. These patients frequently require complex evaluation and decision-making processes to determine a strategy of care, therapeutic choices or withdrawal of care in life-threatening situations. During out-of-hospital missions, thorough decision-making is difficult because of the limited amount of time and lack of direct access to medical charts or to pre-existing advance directives. In this setting, age may be used as a proxy to determine strategy of care, therapeutic choices or withdrawal of care, particularly in relation to advanced medical interventions. We aimed to determine how an emergency physician’s initiation of out-of-hospital advanced medical interventions varies with the patient’s age.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of the missions conducted by the emergency physicians-staffed emergency medical services in a Swiss region. We used logistic regression analysis to determine whether the probability of receiving an advanced medical intervention was associated with the patient’s age.

Results

Among 21,922 out-of-hospital emergency adult missions requiring an emergency physician, the probability of receiving an advanced medical intervention decreased with age. It was highest among those aged 18 – 58 years and significantly lower among those aged ≥ 89 years (OR = 0.66; 95 % CI: 0.53 – 0.82). The probability of cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts progressively decreased with age and was significantly lower for the three oldest age deciles (80 – 83, 84 – 88 and ≥ 89 years).

Conclusion

The number of out-of-hospital advanced medical interventions significantly decreased for patients aged ≥ 89 years. It is unknown whether this lower rate of interventions was related only to age or to other medical characteristics of these patients, such as the number or severity of comorbidities. Thus, further studies are needed to confirm whether this observation corresponds to underuse of advanced medical interventions in very old patients.

Prevalence of risk factors at presentation and early mortality in patients aged 80 years or older with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Background

Elderly patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are at high risk for complications and early mortality; still, they are underrepresented in clinical trials and observational studies. We studied the risk profiles at presentation and early mortality in elderly (≥80 years) versus younger (<80 years) STEMI patients.

Design

This was a prospective cohort study.

Methods

The study population comprised 4,092 consecutive STEMI patients admitted to Oslo University Hospital, Ulleval from 2006 to 2010. Baseline characteristics at admission were recorded, as well as in-hospital mortality. Etiologic strategy was used in the analyses.

Results

Patients ≥80 years of age (n=536) were more likely to be women and have prior myocardial infarction, angina, and stroke, but were less likely to be current smokers. The crude in-hospital mortality was 16.2% in patients aged 80 years and older versus 3.5% in those younger than 80 years. The adjusted odds ratio for mortality in patients aged 80 years and older versus those younger than 80 years increased with increasing levels of serum creatinine and total cholesterol. In patients with low levels of serum creatinine and total cholesterol, the odds ratio was 3.01 (95% confidence interval, 1.86–4.93; P=0.0001); increasing to 11.72 (95% confidence interval, 5.26–26.3; P=0.001) in patients with high levels.

Conclusion

High levels of serum cholesterol and creatinine were important risk factors for early mortality in elderly patients. Depending on the levels of cholesterol and creatinine, in-hospital mortality in patients aged 80 years and older varied from a threefold to an almost twelvefold risk compared with younger patients.

Management of patients with acute coronary syndromes in real-world practice in Italy: an outcome research study focused on the use of ANTithRombotic Agents: the MANTRA registry

BACKGROUND

Although outcomes of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have greatly improved, bleeding is still an issue. Thus, this study aims to evaluate in-hospital management and outcomes of unselected patients with ACS focusing on antithrombotic therapies and bleeding.

METHODS AND RESULTS

From 22 April 2009 to 29 December 2010, 6394 consecutive Italian patients were prospectively enrolled and followed for 6 months. Most patients (55.3%) had non-ST-elevation (NSTE) ACS. Of the ST-elevation (STE) ACS patients, 79.8% received reperfusion (mainly mechanical). In-hospital and 6-month unadjusted total mortality rates were 4.2 and 7.8% for STE-ACS and 2.5 and 6.4% for NSTE-ACS, respectively. During hospitalization, TIMI major bleeding rate was 1.2% (1.4% STE-ACS and 1.1% NSTE-ACS, respectively) and TIMI minor bleeding was 3.1%. In-hospital and 6-month unadjusted total mortality rates were 3.1 and 6.7% for patients without bleeding, 1.5 and 8.6% for minor bleeding, and 19.0 and 26.6% for TIMI major bleeding, respectively (p<0.0001). Notably, TIMI major bleeding was one of the strongest predictors of the 6-month composite end point (death or reinfarction) (STE-ACS hazard ratio, HR, 2.86, 95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 1.57-5.23; NSTE-ACS HR, 2.71, 95% CI 1.52-4.80). Predictors of in-hospital TIMI major bleeding were weight (odds ratio, OR, 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99), female gender (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.09-2.96), history of peripheral vasculopathy (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.83-4.78), switching anticoagulant therapy (OR 2.62, 95% CI 1.36-5.05), intra-aortic balloon pump implantation (OR 4.44, 95% CI 1.85-10.69), and creatinine ≥2 mg/dl on admission (OR 3.68, 95% CI 1.84-7.33).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite aggressive management, the rate of bleeding remains relatively low in an unselected ACS population. However, major bleeding adversely affects prognosis and physicians should tailor treatments to reduce it.