| 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, 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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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- 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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| 6. |
- 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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| 7. |
- Eggers, Kai M., 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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B-type natriuretic peptides and their relation to cardiovascular structure and function in a population-based sample of subjects aged 70 years
- 2009
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Ingår i: American Journal of Cardiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9149 .- 1879-1913. ; 103:7, s. 1032-1038
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether B-type natriuretic peptides (BNPs) could serve as screening markers for the detection of preclinical vascular disease in the community. BNP and N-terminal-pro-BNP were analyzed in 1,000 subjects aged 70 years participating in the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) study and were related to different measures of endothelial function and activation, arterial compliance, carotid atherosclerosis, and echocardiographic findings. The median levels were 42.0 ng/L for BNP and 110.7 ng/L for N-terminal-pro-BNP. On adjusted multivariate analysis, the 2 BNPs were related to increased left ventricular mass and impaired left ventricular systolic and diastolic function but not to any of the other assessed entities reflecting preclinical vascular disease. In conclusion, BNPs are strong markers of increased left ventricular mass and impaired cardiac performance but cannot be regarded as useful screening markers for the detection of preclinical states of vascular disease in elderly subjects.
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| 8. |
- Eggers, Kai M., 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Combining different biochemical markers of myocardial ischemia does not improve risk stratification in chest pain patients compared to troponin I alone
- 2005
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Ingår i: Coronary Artery Disease. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0954-6928 .- 1473-5830. ; 16:5, s. 315-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Early evaluation of patients with chest pain is important not only for the detection of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) but also for identification of patients at high risk for future cardiac events. A multimarker strategy applying results of early measurements of different biochemical markers of cardiac necrosis in combination may improve risk prediction in chest pain patients. METHODS: Rapid measurements of troponin I (TnI), creatine kinase MB and myoglobin were performed in 191 consecutive patients with chest pain and a non-diagnostic electrocardiogram for AMI. The prognostic value of these markers and different multimarker strategies was evaluated and compared. RESULTS: Ten (5.2%) patients died during follow-up, which for eight (4.2%) patients was due to cardiac causes. Myocardial reinfarctions occurred in 17 (6.8%) patients. TnI was most predictive for cardiac mortality (TnI>or=0.1 microg/l, 10.7% event rate compared with TnI<0.1 microg/l, 0%, P<0.001) and myocardial reinfarction (14.9% compared with 1.7%, P<0.001). The other markers and multimarker strategies had a lower capacity for predicting adverse events apart from myoglobin and the combination of TnI or myoglobin regarding the endpoint of total mortality. CONCLUSION: The combinations of different markers were prognostically non-superior compared to TnI, which thus, should be preferred as a biochemical marker for risk stratification in patients with chest pain.
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| 9. |
- Eggers, Kai M., 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Growth-differentiation factor-15 for early risk stratification in patients with acute chest pain
- 2008
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0195-668X .- 1522-9645. ; 29:19, s. 2327-2335
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIMS: Growth-differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) has emerged as a biomarker of increased mortality and recurrent myocardial infarction (MI) in patients diagnosed with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome. We explored the usefulness of GDF-15 for early risk stratification in 479 unselected patients with acute chest pain. METHODS AND RESULTS: Sixty-nine per cent of the patients presented with GDF-15 levels above the previously defined upper reference limit (1200 ng/L). The risks of the composite endpoint of death or (recurrent) MI after 6 months were 1.3, 5.1, and 12.6% in patients with normal (<1200 ng/L), moderately elevated (1200-1800 ng/L), or markedly elevated (>1800 ng/L) levels of GDF-15 on admission, respectively (P < 0.001). By multivariable analysis that included clinical characteristics, ECG findings, peak cardiac troponin I levels within 2 h (cTnI(0-2 h)), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, C-reactive protein, and cystatin C, GDF-15 remained an independent predictor of the composite endpoint. The ability of the ECG combined with peak cTnI(0-2 h) to predict the composite endpoint was markedly improved by addition of GDF-15 (c-statistic, 0.74 vs. 0.83; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: GDF-15 improves risk stratification in unselected patients with acute chest pain and provides prognostic information beyond clinical characteristics, the ECG, and cTnI.
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| 10. |
- Eggers, Kai M., 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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Pathophysiologic mechanisms of persistent cardiac troponin I elevation in stabilized patients after an episode of acute coronary syndrome
- 2008
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Ingår i: American Heart Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-8703 .- 1097-6744. ; 156:3, s. 588-594
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Recently, a high prevalence of small persistent cardiac troponin I (cTnI) elevations has been reported in patients who had been stabilized after a recent episode of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We now have studied the associations of persistently elevated cTnI levels to cardiac performance, inflammation, coagulation, coronary status, and treatment strategy in these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiac troponin I was determined at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after randomization in 898 stabilized ACS patients from the FRagmin and Fast Revascularization during InStability in Coronary artery disease (FRISC) II trial and using the high-sensitive Access AccuTnI assay (Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, CA). All patients were followed up for at least 5 years. Persistent cTnI elevation >0.01 microg/L at the 3 measurement instances was detected in 233 patients (26%). N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) at 6 months (OR 2.5, 95% CI 2.0-3.1), male sex (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4-3.7), and randomization to an early invasive strategy (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.7) independently predicted persistently elevated cTnI levels. Persistently cTnI-positive patients in the invasive cohort had significantly lower NT-proBNP levels compared to noninvasively treated patients, indicating that the mechanisms causing cTnI elevation in this group may be prognostically less harmful. No independent associations were found for markers of inflammation or coagulation. CONCLUSION: Persistent cTnI elevation occurs frequently late after an ACS. The NT-proBNP level at 6 months was the strongest predictor for elevated cTnI levels that thus appear to be predominantly related to impaired left ventricular function.
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