Predictors of Adverse Outcomes of Patients with Chest Pain and Primary Diagnosis of Non-Cardiac Pain at the Time of Discharge from Emergency Department: A 30-Days Prospective Study

Relationship Between Health Literacy, Quality of Life, and Treatment Adherence in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

BACKGROUND

Acute coronary syndrome is a significant global health concern that can affect patients' health outcomes and quality of life. In addition, adherence to treatment and health literacy can affect health outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between treatment adherence, health literacy, and quality of life among patients with acute coronary syndrome.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 407 patients in Iran from April 2019 to November 2019. Patients were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using demographic questionnaire, World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version, Adherence to Treatment Questionnaire, and Health Literacy for Iranian Adults questionnaire. SPSS 25 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Based on descriptive statistics in this study, most of the participants had good treatment adherence level (56.5%); 28.7% of the participants had insufficient health literacy level. The mean score of quality of life was 51.41 ± 12.03, which was greater than the midpoint of the questionnaire. Furthermore, Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a negative association between health literacy, treatment adherence (r = -0.167, p < .01), and quality of life (r = -0.153, p < .01), and a positive association between treatment adherence and quality of life (r = 0.169, p < .01).

CONCLUSION

The results of the current study showed a negative relationship between health literacy, quality of life, and treatment adherence among patients with acute coronary syndrome. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2023;7(2):e71-e79.].

Comparison of outcomes in emergency department patients with suspected cardiac chest pain: two-centre prospective observational study in Southern China

BACKGROUND

Hong Kong (HK) and Guangzhou (GZ) are cities in China with different healthcare systems. This study aimed to compare 30-day and 6-month mortality and characteristics of patients with suspected cardiac chest pain admitted to two emergency departments (ED) in HK and GZ.

METHODS

A prospective observational study enrolled patients with suspected cardiac chest pain presenting to EDs in the Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH), HK and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (AHGZMU),GZ. The primary outcome was 30-day and 6-month mortality.

RESULTS

In total, 996 patients were recruited, 407 cases from GZ and 589 cases from HK.The 30-day and 6-month mortality of chest patients were 3.7% and 4.7% in GZand 0.3% and 1.9% in HK, respectively. Serum creatinine level (Cr) was an independent factor for 30-day mortality whilst Cr and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were independent factors for 6-month mortality. In Cox regression analysis, unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios for 30-day and 6-month mortality in GZ were significantly increased.

CONCLUSION

The 30-day and 6-month mortality of patients with suspected cardiac chest pain in Guangzhou were higher than in Hong Kong due to due to different baseline clinical characteristics of patients and different distributions of diagnoses, which were associated with different healthcare systems. Serum creatinine and SBP were independent factors for 30-day and 6-month mortality.

Plasmatic MicroRNA Signatures in Elderly People with Stable and Unstable Angina

We aimed to investigate the distinctive miRNA profiles in the plasma of elderly patients with unstable angina (UA) and stable angina (SA), and to find more effective markers of UA in elderly people. We compared miRNA expression levels in plasma samples from 10 elderly patients with UA and 10 elderly patients with SA by using microarray-based miRNA chip, and then performed validation with Real-time PCR. Mir-1202, mir-1207-5p, and mir-1225-5p showed a statistically significant down-regulation (P < 0.05), while mir-3162-3p showed an up-regulation (P < 0.05) during validation. Among all single miRNAs, miR-3162-3p showed the highest discriminatory power in the diagnosis of elderly patients with UA (AUC: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.675-0.905). The discriminatory power of a panel of three miRNAs (mir-3162-3p/mir-1225-5p/mir-1207-5p) was highest with an AUC of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.84-0.98), followed by mir-3162-3p/mir-1225-5p (AUC: 0.833, 95% CI: 0.732-0.934) and mir-3162-3p/mir-1207-5p (AUC: 0.817, 95% CI: 0.712-0.922). In conclusion, multi-miRNA panel could provide higher diagnostic value for the diagnosis of elderly patients with UA.