Impact of Conventional Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Left Internal Mammary Artery Graft Disease

Background:The development of atherosclerosis was considered as the common cause of the stenosis of coronary artery grafts. Left internal mammary artery (LIMA) was the best artery graft for further effectiveness of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). We sought to assess the impact of known conventional cardiovascular risk factors (RFs) on LIMA graft stenosis.Methods:A retrospective study including 618 participants, who had recurrence of chest pain after CABG, aged ≥18 years, hospitalized for coronary angiography in Beijing Anzhen hospital between 2010 and 2017 was performed. All the participants were confirmed to have LIMA graft. Multivariate analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between conventional RFs and LIMA graft stenosis.Results:Of the study, 220 (35.6%) participants continued to smoke, 504 (81.6%) were overweight or obese, and 411 (66.5%) and 242 (39.2%) reported concomitant hypertension and diabetes, respectively. LIMA graft stenosis occurred in 161 participants (26.1%). Postoperative smoking, a CABG duration of ≥10 years and hyperglycemia without diabetes had an increased risk of LIMA graft stenosis, the odds ratio (OR) was 1.86 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26–2.78], 2.24 (95%CI:1.33–3.478), and 2.44(95% CI:1.39–4.32), respectively. Statin use (OR, 0.28; 95% CI: 0.25–0.5) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) < 1.8 mmol/L (OR, 0.27; 95% CI: 0.14–0.53) had a significantly decreased risk of LIMA graft stenosis. While, only 15.4% (95/618) achieved the target LDL-C level.Conclusions:Postoperative smoking and hyperglycemia without diabetes had an increased risk of LIMA graft stenosis. Statin use and LDL-C <1.8 mmol/L decreased the risk.

Pharmacist-Led Programs to Increase Statin Prescribing: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Statins are lipid-lowing medications shown to reduce cardiovascular events and are recommended for specific patient populations at elevated risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Despite the demonstrated efficacy of statins for reducing ASCVD risk, and guidance on which populations should receive statin therapy, a substantial portion of eligible patients are not prescribed statin therapy. Pharmacists have attempted to increase the number of eligible patients receiving appropriate statin therapy through a variety of interventions and across several clinical settings. In this article, we highlight multiple studies evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacist-led interventions to improve statin use. A total of seven studies were selected for this narrative review, demonstrating the effectiveness and barriers of different statin-initiation programs delivered by pharmacists to increase statin use in eligible patients. Among the interventions assessed, a combination of provider communicating and statin prescribing through collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) appear to the be the most useful at increasing statin use. Pharmacists can significantly improve statin use rates among eligible patients through multiple intervention types and across different clinical settings. Further studies should evaluate continued statin adherence and clinical outcomes among patients served by pharmacists.

Capitated versus fee-for-service reimbursement and quality of care for chronic disease: a US cross-sectional analysis

Background Upcoming alternative payment models Primary Care First (PCF) and Kidney Care Choices (KCC) incorporate capitated payments for chronic disease management. Prior research on the effect of capitated payments on chronic disease management has shown mixed results. We assessed the patient, physician, and practice characteristics of practices with capitation as the majority of revenue, and evaluated the association of capitated reimbursement with quality of chronic disease care. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of visits in the United States’ National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) for patients with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Our predictor was practice reimbursement type, classified as 1) majority capitation, 2) majority FFS, or 3) other reimbursement mix. Outcomes were quality indicators of hypertension control, diabetes control, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ACEi/ARB) use, and statin use. Results About 9% of visits were to practices with majority capitation revenue. Capitated practices, compared with FFS and other practices, had lower visit frequency (3.7 vs. 5.2 vs. 5.2, p = 0.006), were more likely to be located in the West Census Region (55% vs. 18% vs. 17%, p < 0.001), less likely to be solo practice (21% vs. 37% vs. 35%, p = 0.005), more likely to be owned by an insurance company, health plan or HMO (24% vs. 13% vs. 13%, p = 0.033), and more likely to have private insurance (43% vs. 25% vs. 19%, p = 0.004) and managed care payments (69% vs. 23% vs. 26%, p < 0.001) as the majority of revenue. The prevalence of controlled hypertension, controlled diabetes, ACEi/ARB use, and statin use was suboptimal across practice reimbursement types. Capitated reimbursement was not associated with differences in hypertension, diabetes, or CKD quality indicators, in multivariable models adjusting for patient, physician, and practice characteristics. Conclusions Practices with majority capitation revenue differed substantially from FFS and other practices in patient, physician, and practice characteristics, but were not associated with consistent quality differences. Our findings establish baseline estimates of chronic disease quality of care performance by practice reimbursement composition, informing chronic disease care delivery within upcoming payment models.

Effect of Different Factors on Glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) Levels Among Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Aim: To describe the rate of the controlled level of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among diabetes mellitus patients in Dammam city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To assess the association between the status of HbA1c and the different patient-related factors namely: insulin use, metformin, dyslipidemia, and statin use. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed at Security Forces Hospital, Dammam, KSA, between November 2020 and February 2021. A sample of two hundred known diabetic patients who were regularly followed up at the outpatient department (OPD) was selected randomly for the current study. Results: A very low rate (24%) of controlled HbA1C levels in patients with diabetes (type 1 DM and type 2 DM), The data showed that 85 % of all participants in our study are T2DM patients, while only 15% are T1DM patients, Our data showed that patients with dyslipidemia, hypothyroidism, or hypertension have a high level of uncontrolled HbA1C levels. Surprisingly, both dyslipidemia and statin use were predictors of uncontrolled HbA1C, Unexpectedly, non-metformin use has a protective effect toward controlling HbA1C, While insulin use is a strong predictor of uncontrolled HbA1C (OD 5.20). Conclusion: A low rate of controlled glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level among patients with diabetes (T1DM and T2DM) in our sample urges the need for immediate intervention to investigate and improve the current findings. Further investigations are needed to fully explain the high rate of uncontrolled HbA1c among insulin, metformin and statins users. Keywords: Glycated hemoglobin, HbA1c, Diabetes mellitus, Statins, Metformin.

Association of Prior to Intensive Care Unit Statin Use With Outcomes on Patients With Acute Kidney Injury

Purpose: To evaluate the association of prior to intensive care unit (ICU) statin use with the clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI).Materials and Methods: Patients with AKI were selected from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (version 1.0) database for this retrospective observational study. The primary outcome was 30-day intensive care unit (ICU) mortality. A 30-day in-hospital mortality and ICU length of stay (LOS) were considered as secondary outcomes. Comparison of mortality between pre-ICU statin users with non-users was conducted by the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Comparison of ICU LOS between two groups was implemented by multivariate linear model. Three propensity score methods were used to verify the results as sensitivity analyses. Stratification analyses were conducted to explore whether the association between pre-ICU statin use and mortality differed across various subgroups classified by sex and different AKI stages.Results: We identified 3,821 pre-ICU statin users and 9,690 non-users. In multivariate model, pre-ICU statin use was associated with reduced 30-day ICU mortality rate [hazard ratio (HR) 0.68 (0.59, 0.79); p &lt; 0.001], 30-day in-hospital mortality rate [HR 0.64 (0.57, 0.72); p &lt; 0.001] and ICU LOS [mean difference −0.51(−0.79, −0.24); p &lt; 0.001]. The results were consistent in three propensity score methods. In subgroup analyses, pre-ICU statin use was associated with decreased 30-day ICU mortality and 30-day in-hospital mortality in both sexes and AKI stages, except for 30-day ICU mortality in AKI stage 1.Conclusion: Patients with AKI who were administered statins prior to ICU admission might have lower mortality during ICU and hospital stay and shorter ICU LOS.