Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults With Acute Cardiovascular Disease Undergoing Early Mobilization

Simulation of bempedoic acid and ezetimibe in the lipid-lowering treatment pathway in Austria using the contemporary SANTORINI cohort of high and very high risk patients

OBJECTIVE

The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals in the 2019 European Society of Cardiology/European Atherosclerosis Society dyslipidaemia guidelines necessitate greater use of combination therapies. We describe a real-world cohort of patients in Austria and simulate the addition of oral bempedoic acid and ezetimibe to estimate the proportion of patients reaching goals.

METHODS

Patients at high or very high cardiovascular risk on lipid-lowering treatments (excluding proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors) from the Austrian cohort of the observational SANTORINI study were included using specific criteria. For patients not at their risk-based goals at baseline, addition of ezetimibe (if not already received) and subsequently bempedoic acid was simulated using a Monte Carlo simulation.

RESULTS

A cohort of patients (N = 144) with a mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of 76.4 mg/dL, with 94% (n = 135) on statins and 24% (n = 35) on ezetimibe monotherapy or in combination, were used in the simulation. Only 36% of patients were at goal (n = 52). Sequential simulation of ezetimibe (where applicable) and bempedoic acid increased the proportion of patients at goal to 69% (n = 100), with a decrease in the mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol from 76.4 mg/dL at baseline to 57.7 mg/dL overall.

CONCLUSIONS

The SANTORINI real-world data in Austria suggest that a proportion of high and very high-risk patients remain below the guideline-recommended low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals. Optimising use of oral ezetimibe and bempedoic acid after statins in the lipid-lowering pathway could result in substantially more patients attaining low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals, likely with additional health benefits.

The Multicenter Collaborative to Enhance Biologic Understanding, Quality, and Outcomes in Cardiogenic Shock (VANQUISH Shock): Rationale and Design

BACKGROUND

Despite efforts to advance therapies in cardiogenic shock (CS), outcomes remain poor. This is likely due to several factors, including major gaps in our understanding of the pathophysiology, phenotyping of patients, and challenges with conducting adequately powered clinical studies. An unmet need exists for a comprehensive multicentre "all-comers" prospective registry to facilitate characterising contemporary presentation, treatment (in a device-agnostic fashion), and short- and intermediate-term outcomes and quality of life (QOL) of CS patients.

METHODS

The Multicenter Collaborative to Enhance Biological Understanding, Quality and Outcomes in Cardiogenic Shock (VANQUISH Shock) registry is a prospective observational registry that will study unrestricted adult patients with a primary diagnosis of CS at 4 North American centres with multidisciplinary shock programs. Both acute myocardial infarction (AMI-CS) and acute heart failure (HF-CS) etiologies will be included, and the registry will be device agnostic and widely inclusive. The primary end point will be survival at 30 days after hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes will include in-hospital adverse events and survival to 6 and 12 months. Patients will also undergo neurologic and health-related QOL assessments with the Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) and Short-Form 36 (SF-36) health survey tools before discharge and during follow-up. Serial biospecimens will facilitate biomarker studies.

CONCLUSIONS

The VANQUISH Shock registry provides a unique opportunity to study the pathophysiology, contemporary management, clinical course, and outcomes of CS. By capturing detailed and high-quality longitudinal data, the registry will address existing knowledge gaps and serve as a springboard for future mechanistic clinical studies to advance the field.