Abstract Background Orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) is indicated in 1–8% of patients with myocarditis. However, national trends in the utilization of transplantation and outcomes in myocarditis across the United States are not well established. Purpose Our objective was to study the trends and baseline characteristic of myocarditis patients undergoing heart transplant in the United States using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) National (nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 1999 to 2014. Methods Using NIS data, we identified patients older than 18 years with myocarditis using codes ICD9 codes of 422.0 and 422.9. Among these patients, we identified those who underwent cardiac transplantation using ICD9 procedure codes 37.5 and 33.6. We presented categorical data as percentages and continuous data as mean or median as appropriate. Results We identified a total of 62,264 hospitalizations for myocarditis from 1999–2014. 430 (0.69%) myocarditis patients underwent OHT which consisted of 0.82% of all 29990 cardiac transplants identified in the same period. The trends in OHT for myocarditis is as shown in Figure 1. The mean age was 32.9±2.4 years and 51.1% (n=219) were females. 235 (54.6%) were Caucasians and 60 (13.9%) were Hispanic. Majority of the transplants were performed at medium (16%) and large sized hospitals (80.4%). Cardiac transplants were mainly done at teaching hospitals (98.9%). Further, with regards to the geographical distribution of transplant procedure, most were done in the West (37.2%) followed by South (25.3%), Northeast (21.4%) and Mid-west (16%) of the United States. Private insurance was the major payor source which covered 245 (58%) patients followed by Medicaid covering 112 (26%) patients. A total of 26 (6%) myocarditis patients died during the same hospitalization for OHT. In terms of discharge following OHT in myocarditis 85.8% (n=369) were discharged home and 8.1% (n=35) to short term hospitalization. The average length of stay for OHT for myocarditis was 64.3±6.3 days. Also, the mean cost of hospitalization for heart transplant in myocarditis when adjusted for inflation was 789,566±93,108 dollars. In-patient mortality following OHT was not significantly different in large sized hospital compared to small and medium sized hospitals (7.6% vs 5.7%, p=0.54). However, the cost of hospitalization was significantly lesser in small and medium sized hospitals (588,363±154,349 vs 826,864±106,110 dollars, p<0.0001). Conclusions Only a small percentage of OHT is done for myocarditis with high proportion done in female when compared to OHT for other etiologies. Further studies need to be done to compare long term outcomes of heart transplant in myocarditis. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None
A nationwide 16-year study of the trends, burden and impact of atrial fibrillation in cardiac amyloidosis
Abstract Background Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) remains an underdiagnosed entity. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in patients with CA, likely owing to direct amyloid deposition in the left atrium. However, the prevalence of AF in CA and its association with in-hospital outcomes has not been studied in large populations. Purpose Our aim was to study the trends, baseline characteristics, and clinical impact of AF in patients with CA in the United States using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) National) Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 1999 to 2014. Methods We queried the NIS and identified CA using ICD-9-CM codes 277.39 and 425.7. AF in CA patients was identified using the ICD-9-CM code of 427.31. Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.4 was used for analysis of data. Results There were a total of 145,920 CA hospitalizations between 1999 and 2014 in the United States, of which 37,070 (25.4%) had AF. The prevalence of AF remained consistent from 27.5% in 1999 to 27.4% in 2014. The mean age of patients with AF was 72.9±28.2 years and for patients without AF was 67±31.9 years (p<0.0001). The majority of the patients with AF were male (60.3%) and the study group was predominantly white (62.8% in patients with AF and 56.4% in patients without AF). CA patients with AF suffered more from thyroid-related disease (22.5% vs 16.1%), heart failure (62.9% vs 36.5%) and renal failure (34.7% vs 30.5%) and less from hypertension (29.3% vs 34.0%) and diabetes mellitus (23.2% vs 25.2%) (p<0.0001). There was no significant difference in the Charlson comorbidity score between the groups. Inpatient mortality was significantly higher in CA patients with AF (10.4% vs 6.5%, p<0.001). However, in-patient mortality has been decreasing over the years from 10.3% in 1999 to 7.6% in 2014. Furthermore, cardiogenic shock was significantly higher in CA patients with AF (2.1% vs 1.2%, p<0.001), yet the use of mechanical circulatory support was not significantly different between the groups (0.42% vs 0.35%, p=0.375). Pacemaker implantation was also noted to be higher in CA patients with AF compared to patients without AF (2.8% vs 1.2%, p<0.0001). There was no significant difference between CA patients with and without AF in mean cost of hospitalization ($58222±10752 vs $57695±545, p=0.081) or length of stay (7.9±0.1 vs 7.7±0.1 days, p=0.7089). Conclusion CA with atrial fibrillation is a well-recognized entity, and our large scale retrospective analysis found significant association with worse in-hospital outcomes and cardiogenic shock. Interestingly, trend of in-patient mortality in CA has been decreasing over the years, likely owing to improved imaging modalities for diagnosis. Optimal management of AF in CA is imperative to improve outcomes in this population. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None