Cause and Preventability of In-Hospital Mortality After PCI
2024 09 Apr
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is a common procedure globally and in the United States, but periprocedural mortality, though rare, is a serious concern. Initially, it was believed that most deaths post-PCI were due to procedural complications, leading to the use of periprocedural mortality as an indicator of procedural quality. ...Read more
Ozone Pollution Linked With Increased Hospitalisations for CVD
2023 16 Mar
A new study published in the European Heart Journal provides the first evidence linking exceeding the World Health Organization's (WHO) ozone limit with a substantial increase in hospital admissions for heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. Ozone levels below the WHO maximum were also found to be associated with worsened health. This was a...Read more
Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients More Likely to Die Than Those With Influenza
2022 27 Apr
Adults (aged 18 or older) hospitalised with COVID-19 are at higher risk of complications and death than those with influenza, despite being younger and having fewer chronic illnesses, according to a retrospective cohort study conducted at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona. The findings, presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology...Read more
Hospitalisations for Hypertensive Crisis More than Double
2022 01 Feb
The number of people hospitalised for a hypertensive crisis has more than doubled from 2002 to 2014, according to Cedars-Sinai investigators. The increase occurred during a period when some studies reported overall progress in blood pressure control and a decline in related cardiovascular events in the U.S. The findings are published in the ...Read more
Two-Thirds COVID-19 Hospitalisations Due to Four Conditions
2021 02 Mar
Findings from a new study show that a majority of adult COVID-19 hospitalisations are attributable to one of four pre-existing conditions. These include obesity, hypertension, diabetes and heart failure, in that order. The study is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers used a mathematical simulation to estimate...Read more
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests and Resuscitations During COVID-19
2020 25 Jun
New York City saw a three-fold increase in the number of cardiac arrests from March to April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic than during the same period in 2019. The purpose of this study was to understand the characteristics and outcomes of people who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrests during the pandemic in New York City and whether...Read more
COVID-19: Over 50% of Heart Attack Patients Staying Away From Hospitals
2020 03 Jun
The number of heart attack patients seeking urgent hospital care has dropped by more than 50% during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to an extensive worldwide survey by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The findings are published in European Heart Journal – Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes. “This is the strongest evidence yet of the...Read more
ACC, HeartHero to Advance Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Treatment
2020 20 Feb
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has partnered up with HeartHero to form an alliance to combat sudden cardiac death (SCD) and improve survival rates. For many years, the ACC has been on a mission to improve cardiac care. Now it aims to improve survival with the help of HeartHero's portable defibrillator. SCD is a leading cause of mortality...Read more
Cardiovascular Screening Programmes at Top Cardiology Hospitals
2020 27 Jan
There is very little evidence that screening tests reduce mortality in asymptomatic individuals. However, clinicians have a strong belief that diagnostic tests can help find disease in its earliest stages. That is why many top-ranking hospitals offer executive screening programmes that are primarily targeted to wealthy individuals who can afford to...Read more
Beta Blockers and Heart Failure Hospitalisations
2019 07 Dec
Nearly six million Americans have heart failure, a leading driver of health care costs in the United States. The "stiff heart" heart failure variant accounts for about half of all cases and the vast majority of such patients take beta-blocker medications despite unclear benefit from their regular use. A new publication in JAMA Network Open links use...Read more
#ESCCongress: DAPA-HF Trial - Reduction in Cardiovascular Death, Hospitalisation
2019 01 Sep
The DAPA-HF study findings were presented today by Dr. John McMurray at the ESC Congress in Paris. DAPA-HF is an international, multi-centre, parallel-group, randomised, double-blind trial in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (LVEF = 40%), with and without type-2 diabetes, designed to evaluate the effect of dapagliflozin,...Read more
Influenza activity associated with an increase in hospitalisation for CV events
2019 04 Apr
In a recent study study, surveillance data from 4 US communities was used to associate monthly influenza-like illness (ILI) activity as reported by the CDC with MI and HF hospitalisations. Influenza-like illness activity was associated with an increase in HF hospitalisations within the same month. Myocardial infarction was positively but not significantly...Read more
#EHRA2019: Heart failure patients - remote monitoring prevents hospitalisations
2019 27 Mar
Late-breaking findings from the RESULT trial presented at EHRA 2019, a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress, demonstrate that remote monitoring of heart failure patients is effective in keeping them out of hospital. In fact, this innovative strategy has won reimbursement from the national health system. Around 1-2% of adults...Read more
In-hospital initiation of Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitors
2019 15 Mar
Heart failure (HF) is a major health problem and results in significant morbidity and mortality. The use of Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitor (ARNI) in patients hospitalised for HF may be a good strategy to improve morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Different studies have...Read more
Increased hospitalisation for AMI linked to influenza
2019 09 Jan
According to the World Health Organization, each year approximately 3 to 5 million cases of influenza and nearly 300,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths worldwide can be attributed to influenza. Vulnerable patients, including elderly patients, pregnant women, and immunocompromised patients are at a greater risk of developing influenza-related complications....Read more
Cardiovascular outcomes at top-ranked vs. nonranked hospitals
2018 06 Dec
A new study conducted by the US News & World Report (USNWR) top-ranked hospitals in terms of cardiovascular care and patient outcomes and compared them to nonranked hospitals. The objective of the study was to determine whether USNWR top-ranked hospitals performed better than nonranked hospitals. The performance measures that were evaluated...Read more
Length of hospital stay impacts outcomes post TAVR
2018 02 May
According to new research, patients who stay in the hospital for more than 72 hours when undergoing transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TF-TAVR) procedure may be associated with negative short- and long-term outcomes. The study, which includes independent predictors of early and delayed discharge post TAVR, was presented as late-breaking...Read more
Outcomes and costs of coronary procedures: VA vs. non-VA hospitals
2018 09 Jan
The Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Care (CC) Programme supplements VA care with community-based medical services. A new study comparing the access, cost, and quality of elective coronary revascularisation procedures between VA and CC hospitals reports these key findings: VA hospitals had lower mortality and lower costs than CC hospitals for percutaneous...Read more
Study: AF hospital mortality risk higher in rural areas
2017 12 Dec
According to researchers in the U.S., urban-rural differences exist when it comes to the risk of hospital mortality among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Their study shows that AF patients have a 17 percent increased risk of death in rural hospitals compared to their counterparts in urban hospitals. The findings are reported in the journal...Read more
Public health initiatives improve outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
2017 10 Oct
A new U.S. study shows that coordinated, multifaceted public health initiatives may be helpful for communities aiming to improve outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), including at home. Implementation of such initiatives targeting multiple personnel across the cardiac arrest “chain of survival” resulted in more patients receiving bystander...Read more
Patients Readmitted to Same Hospital Have Better Outcomes
2017 14 May
New research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that patients with heart failure who were rehospitalised within a month to the same hospital were discharged quicker and were more likely to survive. Ambulance policies in both the US and Canada require patients to be taken to the nearest emergency room even if...Read more
High-Performance Hospitals Keep AMI Patients Alive in the Long Term
2016 17 Oct
According to a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yale School of Medicine researchers, short- and long-term risk of death after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with hospital performance. Risk-standardised mortality rates are widely used to measure quality and hospital performance. However, it is...Read more
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Can Outcomes Improve?
2016 30 Aug
Patients who experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) rarely survive. Only five percent survive, and even fewer (1-3%) survive with no or minimal neurological sequelae. Experts were on hand at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Rome this week to sum up current best practice. Alain Combes, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University...Read more
Flu Shot Protects Diabetics from CV Hospitalisations
2016 02 Aug
A new study conducted with adults with type 2 diabetes in UK primary-care clinics shows that those who received the influenza shot had lower hospitalisation rates for flu and pneumonia, major cardiovascular diseases and death during the following flu season as compared to those who were not vaccinated. The study is published in CMAJ. This is the first...Read more
Rise in Avoidable Diabetes Hospital Visits
2016 19 Jul
A new analysis shows that hospital admissions for a short-term and avoidable complication of diabetes have increased by nearly 39 percent in the last ten years. The research is published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal. The NHR-supported study analysed data for almost 80,000 patients who were admitted to hospital for hypoglycaemia....Read more
Being Female Increases Stroke Hospitalisation Risk
2016 14 Jun
A 15 year study in 1.1 million patients with atrial fibrillation has found that women are 23% more likely to be hospitalised for acute ischaemic stroke than men. The research was presented today at CARDIOSTIM - EHRA EUROPACE 2016. The study investigated whether gender had any impact on the rate of hospitalisation for ischaemic stroke in patients...Read more
In-Hospital Death after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
2016 08 Mar
A new statistical model has been developed by researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville that can predict risk of in-hospital death after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The study is published in JAMA Cardiology . TAVR is used primarily in patients who have critical aortic stenosis and are not good...Read more
Quality of Care for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
2016 26 Feb
According to a study published in JAMA Cardiology , there is significant variation among U.S. hospitals with respect to adherence to recommended care after an in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). The study shows survival rates are much higher when hospitals adhere to these recommendations. Approximately 200,000 patients are treated for IHCA annually...Read more
Hospitalisation for Heart Attack, Heart Failure: Lower Risk of Death, Higher Readmission Rate
2016 09 Feb
Among older men with heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, hospitalisation at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals was associated with lower 30-day all-cause mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure and higher 30-day all-cause readmission rates for these conditions as compared with hospitalisations at non-VA hospitals. Any absolute differences...Read more
Heart Attack Test Cuts Hospital Admission
2015 12 Oct
According to findings of trials on 6304 people, it was found that a blood test could halve the number of people admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack. The findings are published in the Lancet. The rapid test evaluates chemical in the blood and could help reduce stress for patients as well as money and it could also ease pressure on...Read more
