| 1. |
- Bellman, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Achievement of secondary preventive goals after acute myocardial infarction : a comparison between participants and nonparticipants in a routine patient education program in Sweden
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. - 0889-4655 .- 1550-5049. ; 24:5, s. 362-368
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Modification of risk factors such as smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and hypertension after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been shown to reduce mortality and morbidity. Therefore, most hospitals in Sweden invite patients with myocardial infarction to an educational program, the "Heart School," where they can learn about lifestyle changes. Whether this kind of education program applied in routine care increases the proportion of patients achieving secondary prevention goals is unknown. METHODS: A cohort of consecutive patients treated for AMI and included in a quality registry was followed up during 1 year. The main aim was to study the effects of taking part in the Heart School on smoking habits, blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, exercise habits, cardiac symptoms, quality of life, and readmissions to hospital. Patients included in the national quality register of secondary prevention after AMI who had participated in the educational program were compared with those who had not participated in the program. Achievements of secondary prevention goals 1 year after the myocardial infarction were evaluated. The study included 2,822 patients. RESULTS: The result showed that patients who participated in the Heart School stopped smoking more often than those who did not participate (adjusted odds ratio, 2.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.46-2.78). The Heart School had no effects on the other variables that were examined. CONCLUSION: The interventions currently used in the Swedish Heart School seem to be insufficient to obtain sustainable lifestyle changes, except for smoking cessation.
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| 2. |
- Björklund, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Admission N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and its interaction with admission troponin T and ST segment resolution for early risk stratification in ST elevation myocardial infarction
- 2006
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Ingår i: Heart. - : BMJ Publishing Group. - 1468-201X .- 1355-6037. ; 92:6, s. 735-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To assess the long term prognostic value of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) on admission and its prognostic interaction with both admission troponin T (TnT) concentrations and resolution of ST segment elevation in fibrinolytic treated ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). DESIGN AND SETTING: Substudy of the ASSENT (assessment of the safety and efficacy of a new thrombolytic) -2 and ASSENT-PLUS trials. PATIENTS: NT-proBNP and TnT concentrations were determined on admission in 782 patients. According to NT-proBNP concentrations, patients were divided into three groups: normal concentration (for patients < or = 65 years, < or = 184 ng/l and < or = 268 ng/l and for those > 65 years, < or = 269 ng/l and < or = 391 ng/l in men and women, respectively); higher than normal but less than the median concentration (742 ng/l); and above the median concentration. For TnT, a cut off of 0.1 microg/l was used. Of the 782 patients, 456 had ST segment resolution (< 50% or > or = 50%) at 60 minutes calculated from ST monitoring. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: All cause one year mortality. RESULTS: One year mortality increased stepwise according to increasing concentrations of NT-proBNP (3.4%, 6.5%, and 23.5%, respectively, p < 0.001). In receiver operating characteristic analysis, NT-proBNP strongly trended to be associated more with mortality than TnT and time to 50% ST resolution (area under the curve 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.72 to 0.9, 0.67, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.79, and 0.66, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.77, respectively). In a multivariable analysis adjusted for baseline risk factors and TnT, both raised NT-proBNP and ST resolution < 50% were independently associated with higher one year mortality, whereas raised TnT contributed independently only before information on ST resolution was added to the model. CONCLUSION: Admission NT-proBNP is a strong independent predictor of mortality and gives, together with 50% ST resolution at 60 minutes, important prognostic information even after adjustment for TnT and baseline characteristics in STEMI.
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| 3. |
- Björklund, Erik, 1967-
(författare)
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Early Risk Stratification, Treatment and Outcome in ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We evaluated, in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with thrombolytics, admission Troponin T (tnT), ST-segment resolution and admission N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for early risk stratification as well as time delays and outcome in real life patients according to prehospital or in-hospital thrombolytic treatment. Also, baseline characteristics, treatments and outcome in patients enrolled in the ASSENT-2 trial in Sweden and in patients not enrolled were evaluated.TnT (n=881) and NT-proBNP (n=782) on admission and ST-resolution at 60 minutes (n=516) in patients from the ASSENT-2 and ASSENT-PLUS trials were analysed. Elevated levels of NT-proBNP and tnT on admission were both independently related to one-year mortality. However, when adding information on ST-resolution (We investigated consecutive STEMI patients included in the RIKS-HIA registry between 2001 and 2004, if they were ambulance transported and had received prehospital (n=1690) or in-hospital (n=3685) thrombolytic treatment. Prehospital diagnosis and thrombolysis reduced the time to thrombolysis by almost one hour, were associated with better left ventricular function and fewer complications and reduced the adjusted one-year mortality by 30% compared with in-hospital thrombolysis.Prospective data from the RIKS-HIA registry on STEMI patients treated with thrombolytics were linked to data on trial participants in the ASSENT-2 trial of thrombolytic agents and used for direct comparisons. Patients treated with thrombolytics and not enrolled in a clinical trial at trial hospitals (n=2048) had higher risk characteristics, more early complications and twice as high adjusted one-year mortality compared to those enrolled (n=729). One major reason for the difference in outcome appeared to be the selection of less critically ill patients to the trial.
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| 4. |
- Björklund, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-hospital thrombolysis delivered by paramedics is associated with reduced time delay and mortality in ambulance-transported real-life patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction
- 2006
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0195-668X .- 1522-9645. ; 27:10, s. 1146-1152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIMS: There are sparse data on the impact of pre-hospital thrombolysis (PHT) in real-life patients. We therefore evaluated treatment delays and outcome in a large cohort of ambulance-transported real-life patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) according to PHT delivered by paramedics or in-hospital thrombolysis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Prospective cohort study used data from the Swedish Register of Cardiac intensive care on patients admitted to the coronary care units of 75 Swedish hospitals in 2001-2004. Ambulance-transported thrombolytic-treated patients younger than age 80 with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction were included. Patients with PHT (n=1690) were younger, had a lower prevalence of co-morbid conditions, fewer complications, and a higher ejection fraction (EF) than in-hospital-treated patients (n=3685). Median time from symptom onset to treatment was 113 min for PHT and 165 min for in-hospital thrombolysis. One-year mortality was 7.2 vs. 11.8% for PHT and in-hospital thrombolysis, respectively. In a multivariable analysis, after adjusting for baseline characteristics and rescue angioplasty, PHT was associated with lower 1-year mortality (odds ratio 0.71, 0.55-0.92, P=0.008). CONCLUSION: When compared with regular in-hospital thrombolysis, pre-hospital diagnosis and thrombolysis with trained paramedics in the ambulances are associated with reduced time to thrombolysis by almost 1 h and reduced adjusted 1-year mortality by 30% in real-life STEMI patients.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Carlhed, Rickard, et al.
(författare)
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Improved adherence to Swedish national guidelines for acute myocardial infarction : the Quality Improvement in Coronary Care (QUICC) study
- 2006
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Ingår i: American Heart Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-8703 .- 1097-6744. ; 152:6, s. 1175-1181
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still suboptimal. Therefore, we designed a study to evaluate the effects of a collaborative quality improvement (QI) intervention on the adherence to AMI guidelines. The intervention used a national web-based quality registry to generate local and regular real-time performance feedback. METHODS: A 12-month baseline measurement of the adherence rates was retrospectively collected, comprising the period July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2002. During the intervention period of November 1, 2002, through April 30, 2003, multidisciplinary teams from 19 nonrandomized intervention hospitals were subjected to a multifaceted QI-oriented intervention. Another 19 hospitals, unaware of their status as controls, were matched to the intervention hospitals. During the postintervention measurement period of May 1, 2003, through April 30, 2004, a total of 6726 consecutive patients were included at the intervention (n = 3786) and control (n = 2940) hospitals. The outcome measures comprised 5 Swedish national guideline-derived quality indicators, compared between baseline and postintervention levels in the control and QUICC intervention hospitals. RESULTS: In the control and QI intervention hospitals, the mean absolute increase of patients receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors was 1.4% vs 12.6% (P = .002), lipid-lowering therapy 2.3% vs 7.2% (P = .065), clopidogrel 26.3% vs 41.2% (P = .010), heparin/low-molecular weight heparin 5.3% vs 16.3% (P = .010), and coronary angiography 6.2% vs 16.8% (P = .027), respectively. The number of QI intervention hospitals reaching a treatment level of at least 70% in 4 or 5 of the 5 indicators was 15 and 5, respectively. In the control group, no hospital reached 70% or more in just 4 of the 5 indicators. CONCLUSIONS: By combining a systematic and multidisciplinary QI collaborative with a web-based national quality registry with functionality allowing real-time performance feedback, major improvements in the adherence to national AMI guidelines can be achieved.
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| 7. |
- Carlhed, Rickard, et al.
(författare)
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Improved clinical outcome after acute myocardial infarction in hospitals participating in a Swedish quality improvement initiative
- 2009
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Ingår i: Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes. - 1941-7713. ; 2:5, s. 458-464
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The Swedish quality improvement initiative Quality Improvement in Coronary Care previously demonstrated significant improvements in caregiver adherence to national guidelines for acute myocardial infarction. The associated impact on 1-year clinical outcome is presented here. METHODS AND RESULTS: During the baseline period July 2001 to June 2002, 6878 consecutive acute myocardial infarction patients <80 years were included at the 19 intervention and 19 control hospitals and followed for a mean of 12 months. During the postintervention period of May 2003 to April 2004, 6484 patients were included and followed in the same way. From baseline to postintervention, improvements in mortality and cardiovascular readmission rates (events per 100 patient-years) were significant in the intervention group (-2.82, 95% CI -5.26 to -0.39; -9.31, 95% CI -15.48 to -3.14, respectively). However, in the control hospitals, there were no significant improvements (0.04, 95% CI -2.40 to 2.47; -4.93, 95% CI -11.10 to 1.24, respectively). Bleedings in the control group increased in incidence (0.92, 95% CI 0.41 to 1.43), whereas the incidence remained unchanged in the intervention group (0.07, 95% CI -0.44 to 0.58). When the difference of changes between the study groups were evaluated, the results still were in favor of the intervention group, albeit significant only for bleeding complications (mortality: -2.70, 95% CI -6.37 to 0.97; cardiovascular readmissions: -6.85, 95% CI -16.62 to 2.93; bleeding complications: -0.82, 95% CI -1.66 to 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: With a systematic quality improvement initiative aiming to increase the adherence to acute myocardial infarction guidelines, it is possible to achieve long-term positive effects on clinical outcome.
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| 8. |
- Eggers, Kai, et al.
(författare)
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Artificial neural network algorithms for early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction and prediction of infarct size in chest pain patients
- 2007
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Ingår i: Int J Cardiol. - : Elsevier BV. - 1874-1754 .- 0167-5273. ; 114:3, s. 366-74
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: To prospectively validate artificial neural network (ANN)-algorithms for early diagnosis of myocardial infarction (AMI) and prediction of 'major infarct' size in patients with chest pain and without ECG changes diagnostic for AMI. METHODS: Results of early and frequent Stratus CS measurements of troponin I (TnI) and myoglobin in 310 patients were used to validate four prespecified ANN-algorithms with use of cross-validation techniques. Two separate biochemical criteria for diagnosis of AMI were applied: TnI > or = 0.1 microg/L within 24 h ('TnI 0.1 AMI') and TnI > or = 0.4 microg/L within 24 h ('TnI 0.4 AMI'). To be considered clinically useful, the ANN-indications of AMI had to achieve a predefined positive predictive value (PPV) > or = 78% and a negative predictive value (NPV) > or = 94% at 2 h after admission. 'Major infarct' size was defined by peak levels of CK-MB within 24 h. RESULTS: For the best performing ANN-algorithms, the PPV and NPV for the indication of 'TnI 0.1 AMI' were 87% (p=0.009) and 99% (p=0.0001) at 2 h, respectively. For the indication of 'TnI 0.4 AMI', the PPV and NPV were 90% (p=0.006) and 99% (p=0.0004), respectively. Another ANN-algorithm predicted 'major AMI' at 2 h with a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 78%. Corresponding PPV and NPV were 73% and 97%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Specially designed ANN-algorithms allow diagnosis of AMI within 2 h of monitoring. These algorithms also allow early prediction of 'major AMI' size and could thus, be used as a valuable instrument for rapid assessment of chest pain patients.
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| 9. |
- Eggers, Kai, 1962-
(författare)
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Cardiac Troponins in Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Acute Coronary Syndrome : New Applications for Biomarkers in Coronary Artery Disease
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The cardiac troponins are the biochemical markers of choice for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and risk prediction in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In this thesis, the role of early serial cardiac troponin I (cTnI) testing was assessed in fairly unselected patient populations admitted because of chest pain and participating in the FAST II-study (n=197) and the FASTER I-study (n=380). Additionally, the importance of cTnI testing in stable post-ACS patients from the FRISC II-study (n=1092) was studied. The analyses in chest pain patients demonstrate that cTnI is very useful for early diagnostic and prognostic assessment. cTnI allowed already 2 hours after admission the reliable exclusion of AMI and the identification of low-risk patients when ECG findings and a renal marker such as cystatin C were added as conjuncts. Other biomarkers such as CK-MB, myoglobin, NT-pro BNP or CRP did not provide superior clinical information. However, myoglobin may be valuable in combination with cTnI results for the early prediction of an impending major AMI when used as input variable for an artificial neural network. Such an approach applying cTnI results only may also furthermore improve the early diagnosis of AMI. Persistent cTnI elevation > 0.01 μg/L was detectable using a high-sensitive assay in 26% of the stable post-ACS patients from the FRISC II-study. NT-pro BNP levels at 6 months were the most important variable independently associated to persistent cTnI elevation besides male gender, indicating a relationship between adverse left ventricular remodeling processes and cTnI leakage. Patients with persistent cTnI elevation had a considerable risk for both mortality and AMI during 5 year follow-up. These analyses thus, confirm the value of cTnI for early assessment of chest pain patients and provide new and unique evidence regarding the role of cTnI for risk prediction in post-ACS populations.
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