Publication Date

6-1-2014

Journal

The Texas Heart Journal

DOI

10.14503/THIJ-12-2947

PMID

24955039

Publication Date(s)

June 2014

Language

English

PMCID

PMC4060338

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

6-1-2014

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-Print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

Ambulatory care/standards, cardiovascular agents/therapeutic use, clinical trials as topic, comprehensive health care, drug utilization/statistics & numerical data, health care surveys, heart failure/drug therapy/economics/epidemiology/prevention & control, office visits/statistics & numerical data/trends/utilization, outcome assessment (health care)/trends, quality assurance, health care

Abstract

Better outpatient management of heart failure might improve outcomes and reduce the number of rehospitalizations. This study describes recent outpatient heart-failure management in the United States.

We analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of 2006–2008, a multistage random sampling of non-Federal physician offices and hospital outpatient departments.

Annually, 1.7% of all outpatient visits were for heart failure (51% females and 77% non-Hispanic whites; mean age, 73 ± 0.5 yr). Typical comorbidities were hypertension (62%), hyperlipidemia (36%), diabetes mellitus (35%), and ischemic heart disease (29%). Body weight and blood pressure were recorded in about 80% of visits, and health education was given in about 40%. The percentage of patients taking β-blockers was 38%; the percentage taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARBs) was 32%. Medication usage did not differ significantly by race or sex. In multivariate-adjusted logistic regression models, a visit to a cardiologist, hypertension, heart failure as a primary reason for the visit, and a visit duration longer than 15 minutes were positively associated with ACEI/ARB use; and a visit to a cardiologist, heart failure as a primary reason for the visit, the presence of ischemic heart disease, and visit duration longer than 15 minutes were positively associated with β-blocker use. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was negatively associated with β-blocker use. Approximately 1% of heart-failure visits resulted in hospitalization.

In outpatient heart-failure management, gaps that might warrant attention include suboptimal health education and low usage rates of medications, specifically ACEI/ARBs and β-blockers.

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