WASHINGTON (Sep 30, 2016) -

The American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry was the source of data for research published throughout 2016, including a study examining if atrial fibrillation patients are being prescribed oral anticoagulants, how appropriate use criteria correlates to angioplasty rates and the variation among racial groups for revascularization procedures.

NCDR Study Shows In-Hospital Mortality Rate of CS-AMI Patients Continues to Rise
The in-hospital mortality rate among patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) increased from 27.6 percent between 2005 and 2006 to 30.6 percent between 2011 and 2013, according to a study published Jan. 20 in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. Using data from the American College of Cardiology's CathPCI Registry, researchers assessed records from 56,497 patients between January 2005 and December 2012. Results showed that the use of bivalirudin instead of other anti-coagulants such as heparin increased (12.6 percent earlier vs. 45.6 percent later), while the use of an intra-aortic balloon pump declined (49.5 percent vs. 44.9 percent). In addition, in the 2005-2006 time period, 31.5 percent of patients had more than one lesion treated during PCI, while in the 2011-2013 period, the number decreased to 25.8 percent. Furthermore, only a small fraction of these patients had the procedure done via radial access. Read more.

Are High-Risk Atrial Fibrillation Patients Receiving Recommended Oral Anticoagulant Therapy?

Outpatients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) may be more likely to be prescribed an oral anticoagulant as their number of stroke risk factors increase. However, less than half of high-risk patients at the highest ranges of stroke risk are prescribed an oral anticoagulant, according to a study published March 16 in JAMA Cardiology. Jonathan C. Hsu, M.D., M.A.S., and colleagues looked at 429,417 outpatients with AFib enrolled in the American College of Cardiology's PINNACLE Registry between January 2008 and December 2012. The researchers calculated the CHADS2 score and the CHA2DS2-VASc score for all patients, and examined the association between increased stroke risk score and prescription of an oral anticoagulant. Results showed that prescribed treatment consisted of an oral anticoagulant (44.9 percent of patients), aspirin only (25.9 percent), aspirin plus a thienopyridine (5.5 percent), or no antithrombotic therapy (23.8 percent). Each 1-point increase in risk score was associated with increased odds of oral anticoagulant prescription compared with aspirin-only prescription. However, a plateau of oral anticoagulant prescription was observed as oral anticoagulant prescription prevalence did not exceed 50 percent even in higher-risk patients with a CHADS2 score exceeding 3 or a CHA2DS2-VASc score exceeding 4. Read more.

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