Background Heart failure (HF) imparts a significant clinical and economic burden on the health system in the United States. Methods and Results We used the National Inpatient Sample database between September 2002 and December 2016. We examined trends of comorbidities, inpatient mortality, and healthcare resource use in patients admitted with acute HF. Outcomes were adjusted for demographic variables, comorbidities, and inflation. A total of 11 806 679 cases of acute HF hospitalization were identified. The burden of coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, valvular heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, anemia, cancer, depression, and chronic kidney disease among patients admitted with acute HF increased over time. The adjusted mortality decreased from 6.8% in 2002 to 4.9% in 2016 ( P‐ trend<0.001; average annual decline, 1.99%), which was consistent across age, sex, and race. The adjusted mean length of stay decreased from 8.6 to 6.5 days ( P <0.001), but discharge disposition to a long‐term care facility increased from 20.8% to 25.6% ( P <0.001). The inflation adjusted mean cost of stay increased from $14 301 to $17 925 ( P <0.001) (average annual increase, 1.52%), which was partially explained by the higher proportion of procedures (echocardiogram, right heart catheterization, use of ventricular assist devices, coronary artery bypass grafting) and the higher incidence of HF complications (cardiogenic shock, respiratory failure, ventilator, and renal failure requiring dialysis). Conclusions This national data set showed that despite increasing medical complexities, there was significant reduction in inpatient mortality and length of stay. However, these measures were counterbalanced by a higher proportion of discharge disposition to long‐term care facilities and expensive cost of care.
Participation of Women and Older Participants in Randomized Clinical Trials of Lipid-Lowering Therapies
Abstract Aims To compare early de-escalation of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) (1–3 months) to monotherapy with either P2Y12 inhibitor or aspirin vs. 12 months DAPT after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES). Methods and results Electronic databases of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library were searched through February 2020 to identify randomized controlled trials. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted with random effects model. The main endpoints of interest were cardiovascular mortality and total bleeding events. Among seven trials (35 821 patients), 52.6% patients were presented with acute coronary syndrome. A total of 3359 patients and 14 530 patients were de-escalated to aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy, respectively. At a median follow-up of 12 months, compared with 12 months of DAPT, there was no significant difference in cardiovascular mortality between 1-month DAPT followed by P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy [hazard ratio (HR) 0.84 (95% credible interval 0.29–2.43)], 3 months of DAPT followed by P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy [HR 0.74 (0.39–1.46)], or 3 months of DAPT [HR 1.00 (0.54–1.86)] followed by aspirin monotherapy. Except for de-escalation of DAPT to aspirin monotherapy after 3 months [HR 0.75 (0.43–1.20)], de-escalation to P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after 1 month [HR 0.28 (0.10–0.83)], or 3 months [HR 0.57 (0.33–0.98)] were associated with significant decrease in total bleeding events. There were no significant differences in terms of ischaemic endpoints among different DAPT strategies. Conclusion Early de-escalation of DAPT (1–3 months) to monotherapy with a P2Y12 inhibitor instead of aspirin might be a safer and equally effective approach compared with 12 months of DAPT in patients with PCI and DES.