Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether income-based disparities in care processes and outcome exist in patients with acute coronary syndromes. BACKGROUND: Using income proxies and limited clinical data, some observational studies have shown income disparities in outcome after acute myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: Using annual household income from the economic substudy of the PURSUIT (Platelet Glycoprotein IIB/IIIA In Unstable Angina: Receptor Suppression Using Integrilin Therapy) trial, patients were grouped into low-, middle-, and high-income categories based on the U.S. Census Bureau definition of poverty. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between income category and the use of cardiac procedures and the prescription of evidence-based medications at hospital discharge. Cox regression analysis was used to examine the hazard of 30-day and six-month death or recurrent MI across income categories, after adjusting for baseline characteristics. RESULTS: Low-income patients had more chronic medical conditions and were sicker at presentation. Among low-income patients, the use of some evidence-based medications and cardiac procedures was lower and the unadjusted rates of 30-day death and six-month death or MI was higher. After multivariable adjustment, there was no consistent pattern for disparity in care processes, but the trend for higher short and intermediate-term death or MI persisted for low-income patients. CONCLUSIONS: Income level is associated with a trend toward worse outcome among patients with acute coronary syndromes. The disparity in 30-day and six-month death or MI between low and high-income patients could not be readily explained by differences in in-hospital medical or invasive treatment, suggesting that the poor outcomes may be due to differences occurring after hospital discharge

AIMS: The SHould we emergently revascularize Occluded Coronaries in cardiogenic shocK (SHOCK) Trial showed no benefit of early revascularization in patients aged >/=75 years with acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock. We examined the effect of age on treatment and outcomes of patients with cardiogenic shock in the SHOCK Trial Registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared clinical and treatment factors in patients in the SHOCK Trial Registry with shock due to pump failure aged <75 years (n=588) and >/=75 years (n=277), and 30-day mortality of patients treated with early revascularization <18 hours since onset of shock and those undergoing a later or no revascularization procedure. After excluding early deaths covariate-adjusted relative risk and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to compare the revascularization strategies within the two age groups. Older patients more often had prior myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, renal insufficiency, other comorbidities, and severe coronary anatomy. In-hospital mortality in the early vs. late or no revascularization groups was 45 vs. 61% for patients aged <75 years (p=0.002) and 48 vs. 81% for those aged >/=75 years (p=0.0003). After exclusion of 65 early deaths and covariate adjustment, the relative risk was 0.76 (0.59, 0.99; p=0.045) in patients aged <75 years and 0.46 (0.28, 0.75; p=0.002) in patients aged >/=75 years. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients with myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock are less likely to be treated with invasive therapies than younger patients with shock. Covariate-adjusted modeling reveals that elderly patients selected for early revascularization have a lower mortality rate than those receiving a revascularization procedure later or never

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics and outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) complicated by cardiogenic shock due to predominant right ventricular (RV) infarction. BACKGROUND: Although RV infarction has been shown to have favorable long-term outcomes, the influence of RV infarction on mortality in cardiogenic shock is unknown. METHODS: We evaluated 933 patients in cardiogenic shock due to predominant RV (n = 49) or left ventricular (LV) failure (n = 884) in the SHould we emergently revascularize Occluded coronaries for Cardiogenic shocK? (SHOCK) trial registry. RESULTS: Patients with predominant RV shock were younger, with a lower prevalence of previous MI (25.5 vs. 40.1%, p = 0.047), anterior MI, and multivessel disease (34.8 vs. 77.8%, p < 0.001) and a shorter median time between the index MI and the diagnosis of shock (2.9 vs. 6.2 h, p = 0.003) in comparison to patients with LV shock. In-hospital mortality was 53.1% versus 60.8% (p = 0.296) for patients with predominant RV and LV shock, respectively, and the influence of revascularization on mortality was not different between groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that RV shock was not an independent predictor of lower in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.07, 95% confidence interval 0.54 to 2.13). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the younger age, lower rate of anterior MI, and higher prevalence of single-vessel coronary disease of RV compared with LV shock patients, and their similar benefit from revascularization, mortality is unexpectedly high in patients with predominant RV shock and similar to patients with LV shock

BACKGROUND: Although echocardiography is used in diagnosis and management of myocardial infarction, it has not been established whether specific features of cardiac structure or function early in the course of cardiogenic shock provide prognostic value. The purposes of this substudy of the SHould we emergently revascularize Occluded Coronaries for cardiogenic shocK (SHOCK) trial were to describe the echocardiographic features of cardiogenic shock, identify findings on early echocardiograms associated with outcome, examine the interaction of such features with treatment, and determine whether these features could provide insights into the survival benefit observed with early revascularization and guide selection of patients for this strategy. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred seventy-five echocardiograms performed within 24 hours of randomization to the early revascularization (ERV) or initial medical stabilization (IMS) arms of the trial were submitted for quantitative assessment, and 169 were suitable for analysis. The 2 groups were similar in terms of clinical and early echocardiographic characteristics. Mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 31%, and moderate or greater mitral regurgitation (MR) was noted in 39.1%. On multivariate analysis, the only independent predictors of survival were MR severity and LVEF. A survival benefit for the ERV strategy was observed at all levels of LVEF and MR. CONCLUSIONS: A wide range of cardiac structural and functional abnormalities exists in patients presenting with acute cardiogenic shock. Both short- and long-term mortality appear to be associated with initial left ventricular systolic function and MR as assessed by echocardiography, and a benefit of ERV is noted regardless of baseline LVEF or MR

CONTEXT: Among patients with acute myocardial infarction, combination reperfusion therapy with a platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor (abciximab) and a half dose of a plasminogen activator (reteplase) did not significantly reduce mortality at 30 days compared with a full dose of reteplase. Rates of nonfatal ischemic complications were significantly diminished. OBJECTIVE: To determine if the beneficial effects of abciximab and reteplase (combination therapy) on early nonfatal complications would translate into a reduction in the risk of death by 1 year. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: One-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial (Global Use of Strategies To Open Coronary Arteries [GUSTO] V). Of 16 588 patients who had been treated in 820 community and referral hospitals in 20 countries between July 1999 and February 2001, mortality data were available for 16 453 (99.2%). INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly assigned to receive (intravenously) a standard dose of reteplase (two 10-U boluses, 30 minutes apart) or the combination of a standard dose of abciximab (0.25 mg/kg bolus, 0.125 microg/kg per minute infusion [maximum 10 micro g/min for 12 hours]) and a half dose of reteplase (two 5-U boluses, 30 minutes apart). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: One-year all-cause mortality rates. RESULTS: All-cause mortality at 1 year occurred in 692 (8.38%) of 8260 patients in the reteplase group and 698 (8.38%) of the 8328 patients in the combination therapy group (hazard ratio [HR], 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90-1.11; P>.99). Reinfarction within the first 7 days occurred in 3.5% of patients in the reteplase group and 2.3% of patients in the combination therapy group, and was significantly associated with 1-year mortality (22.6% in patients with reinfarction vs 8.0% in patients without reinfarction; HR, 3.08; 95% CI, 2.53-3.75; P<.001). However, treatment assignment did not significantly influence time of mortality regardless of reinfarction status. CONCLUSION: Combination therapy (abciximab and reteplase) did not reduce mortality over 1 year compared with fibrinolytic therapy with reteplase alone

Context: Unfractionated heparin remains widely utilized in the treatment of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). However, limited data exist on optimal dosing and range of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) in this setting. A large trial of thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction has reported an association between longer aPTTs and adverse outcomes.Objectives: Estimate the optimal heparin-dosing regimen in achieving early therapeutic aPTTs (50 to 75 seconds) and determine the association of aPTT and death, reinfarction, and bleeding in population with ACS.Design: Subgroup analysis within a randomized, controlled trial of 5861 patients given unfractionated heparin who had aPTTs at 6, 12, or 24 hours, with outcome analyses by weight categories.Setting: In 373 hospitals in 13 countries from May 1994 to October 1995.Patients: A total of 12,142 patients admitted for ACS, stratified by the presence (n = 4131) or absence (n = 8011) of ST-segment elevation, and randomized to 72 hours of unfractionated heparin.Results: In a simulated weight-adjusted model, based on retrospective grouping by weight, a simulated dose of 60-U/kg bolus and 12-U/kg/h infusion resulted in the highest proportion of therapeutic aPTTs. After adjustment for baseline variables, longer 12-hour aPTT was associated with the composite of 30-day death or reinfarction in patients not treated with thrombolytic therapy (odds ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.22; P = 0.047). Longer aPTT at 6 hours was associated with increased moderate or severe bleeding for the entire cohort. There was also a significant, nonlinear correlation of the 12-hour aPTT with moderate or severe bleeding in thrombolysis-treated patients.Conclusions: For ACS patients who are treated with heparin, aPTT is highly associated with body weight. Longer aPTT within the first 12 hours is associated with adverse outcomes in ACS. Heparin dosing for ACS should be weight based