Variation in Arterial Access for Invasive Coronary Procedures in New Zealand: A National Analysis (ANZACS-QI 5)

Clinical Practice Patterns for Transradial Coronary Artery Catheterisation in Australian and New Zealand: Mixed-Methods Survey and Interview Study

BACKGROUND

While there has been an increase in the use of the transradial approach when performing percutaneous coronary angiography and intervention, there is evidence of variations in international practice. Ensuring that operators' practices are supported by evidence is important to ensure optimal outcomes.

METHOD

Interventional cardiologists and advanced trainees completed a cross-sectional survey followed by semi-structured interviews to map current practices for transradial coronary artery procedures in Australia and New Zealand and explore factors that influence clinical decision-making around procedural practice.

RESULTS

The right radial artery was the preferred access site (88%). Over a third (37%) of the participants indicated that they tested the hand circulation pre-procedure. Over a quarter of respondents (28.6%) reported that they would carry out transradial procedures regardless of the patient's coagulation status. Most participants (77.8%) described radial artery spasm in around 10% of transradial procedures performed. Only 62% of participants assessed for radial artery occlusion post-catheterisation. Interview data revealed four themes that guided clinical decision-making, namely (1) Decision-making based on research, (2) Using clinical experience, (3) Being led by their training, and (4) Individual patient factors.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has demonstrated that despite clinical guidelines, substantial practice variation exists in transradial coronary artery catheterisation across Australia and New Zealand. The variation in practice and factors impacting clinical decision-making highlight a need for future strategies to optimise evidence translation and implementation across clinical settings.

Increases in early discharge following acute coronary syndrome hospitalisations and associated clinical outcomes in New Zealand between 2006 and 2015: ANZACS-QI-43 study

BACKGROUND

International guidelines recommend early discharge for uncomplicated acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients within 3 days; however, there is a paucity of contemporary literature regarding the safety of this strategy.

AIMS

To report the trends in the proportion of ACS hospitalisations discharged within 3 days and their outcomes in New Zealand.

METHODS

ACS hospitalisations 2006-2015 using national routinely collected data were categorised by length of stay (LOS) into ≤3, 4-5 and >5 days, excluding deaths during the index admission. Trend analysis of death, cardiovascular and bleeding events and their composites (net adverse clinical events) at 30-day and 1-year post-discharge were performed using generalised linear mixed regression models adjusting for covariates by LOS subgroups.

RESULTS

Among 130 037 ACS hospitalisations, LOS ≤ 3 days increased from 32% in 2006 to 44% in 2016. This trend was observed for all demographics, ACS subtypes and management strategies. Event rates at 30 days and 1 year were the lowest for the LOS ≤3 days subgroup (all-cause mortality 1.6% and 9.1% respectively). Thirty-day and 1-year all-cause mortality rates were unchanged over time for this subgroup (adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.011 (0.985-1.038) and 0.991 (0.979-1.003)), while net adverse clinical event rates significantly decreased (0.962 (0.950-0.973) and 0.972 (0.964-0.980) respectively).

CONCLUSION

There was a substantial increase in early discharge post-ACS over 10 years. These patients were associated with reduction in adverse clinical events up to 1 year and no increase in all-cause mortality. These findings from a comprehensive national register suggest that guideline recommendations on early discharge after uncomplicated ACS are safe and appropriate.

Patient Versus Physician Variation in Use of Transradial Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

The prevalence of radial access for transradial catheterization remains low in the United States, occurring in only 28% of cases in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) CathPCI. It is unknown whether the low adoption rate has been influenced by patient characteristics or is more operator dependent. In a 10-center study, we compared clinical and demographic characteristics among 323 radial and 1,506 femoral access percutaneous coronary intervention (PCIs) performed by 65 interventionists capable of radial PCI. We created a hierarchical logistic regression model to identify operator and patient characteristics associated with radial PCI and the median rate ratio to quantify the variation across operators. A subset was interviewed to assess health literacy and preferences in shared medical decision making. Radial access was used in 17.7% of patients. Patient factors associated with lower rate of radial PCI were previous PCI (33.4% vs 41.4%, p = 0.008), history of coronary artery bypass graft (8.4% vs 23.0%, p <0.001), and chronic total occlusion PCI (10.2% vs 17.9%, p <0.001). Operator characteristics associated with lower rate of radial PCI are being older, being longer in practice, lower number of publications, and Southern practice location. The range of radial use across operators was 1% to 99% and the median rate ratio was 1.97. Patients with radial access had lower health literacy, as assessed by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine Revised (REALM) score (6.6 ± 2.6 vs 7.1 ± 2.0, p = 0.03) but did not differ in their preferences for shared decision making. In conclusion, our study demonstrates a high degree of variability of radial access for PCI among different operators, with few differences in patient characteristics, suggesting that improvement efforts should focus on operators.