Akhtar, Tauseef

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) adversely affect the outcomes in the patients of heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction, however there are limited data exploring such an association in HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Hypothesis: AF is associated with worse outcomes in HFpEF. Methods: We included all the patients with the primary diagnosis of HFpEF from the national inpatient sample (NIS) database (2012-2014) using ICD-9 codes. Exposure of interest was AF. Primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and secondary outcomes were rates of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), syncope, cardiogenic shock, embolic stroke, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute kidney injury (AKI), passive hepatic congestion, ventricular fibrillation (V fib) and flutter, ventricular assist device (VAD), AICD, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), intra-aortic balloon placement (IABP) placement and heart transplantation. Hospitalization cost was also studied. Results: Our study cohorts included 26,51,970 patients of HFpEF with AF and 37,44,101 patients of HFpEF without AF. AF cohort had more numbers of older patients and less female representation. In-hospital mortality was more in AF cohort. Similarly, the odds of SCA, cardiogenic shock, embolic stroke, passive hepatic congestion, Vfib and flutter, AICD and CRT placement were higher in AF cohort. The odds of syncope, AMI and AKI were lower in AF cohort as compared to non-AF cohort. While the odds of heart transplantation and VAD and IABP use remained comparable between the study cohorts, AF cohort incurred greater of cost of hospitalization. Conclusion: AF in HFpEF patients is associated with increased in-hospital mortality and cardiogenic shock and should be aggressively treated for improved outcomes.

Background: In the busy world of cardiovascular medicine, abstracts may be the only part of a publication that clinicians read. Therefore, it is critical for abstracts to accurately reflect article content. The extended CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement for Abstracts was developed to ensure high abstract quality. However, it is unknown how often adherence to CONSORT guidelines occurs among cardiovascular journals. Methods and Results: We searched MEDLINE for randomized controlled trials published in 3 major cardiovascular journals ( Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology , and European Heart Journal ) from 2011 to 2017. Post hoc, interim, and cost-effective analyses of randomized controlled trials were excluded. Two independent investigators extracted the data using a prespecified data collection form and a third investigator adjudicated the data. The primary outcome was frequency of subcategory adherence to CONSORT guidelines. A total of 478 abstracts were included in the analysis. Approximately half of the abstracts (53%; 255/478; 95% CI, 49%–57%) identified the article as randomized in the title. All abstracts detailed the interventions for both study groups (100%) and 81% (95% CI, 78%–85%) reported trial registration. Methodological quality reporting was relatively low: 9% (45/478; 95% CI, 6%–12%) described participant eligibility criteria with settings for data collection, 43% (204/478; 95% CI, 39%–47%) reported details of blinding, and <1% (4/478; 95% CI, 0%–2%) reported allocation concealment. Approximately 60% (301/478; 95% CI, 59%–67%) of the included abstracts provided primary outcome results while 55% (262/478; 95% CI, 51%–60%) reported harms or adverse effects. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of nonadherence to CONSORT guidelines among leading cardiovascular journals. Efforts by editors, authors, and reviewers should be made to increase adherence and promote transparent and unbiased presentation of study results.