The stroke belt consortium

Building Statewide Quality Improvement Capacity to Improve Cardiovascular Care and Health Equity: Lessons from the Tennessee Heart Health Network

DRIVING FORCES

Many states with high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) lack statewide quality improvement (QI) infrastructure (for example, resources, leadership, community) to address relevant health needs of the population. Academic health centers are well positioned to play a central role in addressing this deficiency. This article describes early experience and lessons learned in building statewide QI infrastructure through the Tennessee Heart Health Network (Network).

APPROACH

A statewide, multistakeholder network composed of primary care practices (PCPs), health systems, health plans, QI organizations, patients, and academic institutions was led by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), an academic health center, to improve cardiovascular health by supporting dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) evidence-based interventions in primary care. PCPs were required to select and implement at least one of three interventions (health coaching, tailored health-related text messaging, and pharmacist-physician collaboration).

OUTCOMES AND KEY INSIGHTS

Thirty statewide organizational partners joined the Network in year one, including 18 health systems representing 77 PCPs (30.0% of 257 potentially eligible PCPs identified) with approximately 300,000 patients. The organizational partners share EHRs for the ongoing tracking and reporting of key health metrics, including hypertension control and delivery of tobacco cessation counseling. Of the 77 PCPs, 62 continue participation after year two (80.5% retention). Main barriers to participation and reasons for discontinuing participation included reluctance to share data and changes in leadership at the health system level. These 62 PCPs selected the following interventions to implement: health coaching (41.9%), tailored health-related text messages (48.4%), and pharmacist-physician collaboration (40.3%).

CONCLUSION AND WHAT'S NEXT

Academic health centers have broad reach and high acceptability by diverse stakeholders. Tennessee's experience illustrates how academic health centers can serve as platforms for building a statewide infrastructure for disseminating, implementing, and sustaining QI interventions at the practice level. Assessment of Network impact is ongoing.

Population analysis of ischemic stroke burden and risk factors in the United States in the pre- and post-mechanical thrombectomy eras

OBJECTIVES

To provide an updated analysis of the burden of ischemic stroke in the United States.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using the Global Burden of Disease database, we estimated age-standardized, population-adjusted rates of incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years from 2010 to 2019, with regional comparisons. Deaths and disability-adjusted life years were compared in 2010-2014 and 2015-2019 to assess the potential effect of increased mechanical thrombectomy use. The attributable, disability-adjusted life years for twenty risk factors were estimated, ranked, and trended.

RESULTS

Incident ischemic strokes decreased by 11.4 % across the study period from 65.7 (55.9-77.3) to 58.2 (49.0-69.5) per 100,000. Prevalence (-8.2 %), mortality (-1.9 %), and disability-adjusted life years (-4.4 %) all declined. All regions showed reductions in all burden measures, with the South consistently having the highest burden yet the largest reduction in incidence (-12.6 %) and prevalence (-10.5 %). Deaths (p < 0.0001) and DALYs (p < 0.0001) significantly differed between the pre- and post-mechanical thrombectomy eras. Total attributable disability-adjusted life years for all risk factors decreased from 304.7 (258.5-353.2) in 2010 to 288.9 (242.2-337.2) in 2019. In 2019, the risk factors with the most disability-adjusted life years were hypertension, hyperglycemia, and obesity with no state-based differences. Across the study period, disability-adjusted life years attributable to leading risk factors decreased among men but decreased less or increased among women.

CONCLUSIONS

The burden of ischemic stroke decreased during the study period. Declines in deaths and disability-adjusted life years suggest a mitigating impact of mechanical thrombectomy. While disability-adjusted life years attributable to leading risk factors decreased, sex-based disparities were observed.

Fifty Years of Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment: A Personal History

BACKGROUND

It has been 50 years since the first explorations of the physiology of cerebral ischemia by measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF), and 25 years since the approval of tissue plasminogen activator for treating acute ischemic stroke. My personal career began and matured during those eras. Here, I provide my perspective on the evolution of acute stroke research and treatment from 1971 to the present, with some in-depth discussion of the National Institutes of Neurologic Disease and Stroke (NINDS) tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) stroke trial and development of mobile stroke units.

SUMMARY

Studies of CBF and metabolism in acute stroke patients revealed graded tissue injury that was dependent on the duration of ischemia. Subsequent animal research unraveled the biochemical cascade of events occurring at the cellular level after cerebral ischemia. After a decade of failed translation, the development of a relatively safe thrombolytic allowed us to achieve reperfusion and apply the lessons from earlier research to achieve positive clinical results. The successful conduct of the NINDS tPA stroke study coupled with positive outcomes from companion tPA studies around the world created the specialty of vascular neurology. This was followed by an avalanche of research in imaging, a focus on enhancing reperfusion through thrombectomy, and improving delivery of faster treatment culminating in mobile stroke units. Key Messages: The last half century has seen the birth and evolution of successful acute stroke treatment. More research is needed in developing new drugs and catheters to build on the advances we have already made with reperfusion and also in evolving our systems of care to get more patients treated more quickly in the prehospital setting. The history of stroke treatment over the last 50 years exemplifies that medical "science" is an evolving discipline worth an entire career's dedication. What was impossible 50 years ago is today's standard of care, what we claim as dogma today will be laughed at a decade from now, and what appears currently impossible will be tomorrow's realities.

Oxidative balance score as predictor of all-cause, cancer, and noncancer mortality in a biracial US cohort

PURPOSE

We previously proposed an oxidative balance score (OBS) that combines pro- and anti-oxidant exposures to represent the overall oxidative balance status of an individual. In this study, we investigated associations of the OBS with all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and explored alternative OBS weighting methods in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study cohort.

METHODS

The OBS was calculated by combining information from 14 a priori selected pro- and anti-oxidant factors and then divided into quartiles with the lowest quartile (predominance of pro-oxidants) as reference. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for each OBS category compared with the reference.

RESULTS

Over a median 5.8 years of follow-up, 2079 of the 21,031 participants died. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for all-cause, cancer, and noncancer mortality for those in the highest versus the lowest equal-weighting OBS quartile were 0.70 (0.61-0.81), 0.50 (0.37-0.67), and 0.77 (0.66-0.89), respectively (P trend < .01 for all). Similar results were observed with all weighting methods.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that individuals with a greater balance of antioxidant to pro-oxidant lifestyle exposures may have lower mortality.

Sudden Unexpected Death in North Carolina (SUDDEN): methodology review and screening results

OBJECTIVES

This paper describes the methodology for a prospective, community-based study of sudden unexpected death in Wake County, North Carolina.

METHODS

From 1 March to 29 June 2013, data of presumed cardiac arrest cases were captured from Wake County Emergency Medical Services. Participants were screened into the presumed sudden unexpected death group based on specific and sequential screening criteria, and medical and public records were collected for each participant in this group. A committee of independent cardiologists reviewed all data to determine final inclusion/exclusion of each participant into registry.

RESULTS

We received 398 presumed cardiac arrest referrals. Of these, 105 participants, age 18-65 years old, were identified as presumed sudden unexpected deaths. The primary reason for exclusion was survival to hospital (38%). Ninety-five per cent of participants in the presumed sudden unexpected death group experienced an unwitnessed death. Hypertension was present in almost 50%, while dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus were present in almost 25% of the same group. In addition, the presumed sudden unexpected death group includes 67.6% males (95% CI 58 to 76) whereas the control group only included 58.9% (95% CI 46 to 55) males.

CONCLUSIONS

Participant identification and data collection processes identify presumed sudden unexpected death cases and secure medical and public data for screening and final adjudication. The study infrastructure developed in Wake County will allow its expansion to other counties in North Carolina. Preliminary data indicate the study presently focuses on a population demographically representative of North Carolina.

Clinical efficiency tools improve stroke management in a rural southern health system

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Ischemic stroke is a high-volume and financially draining diagnosis at this rural health system. The purpose of this clinical practice analysis was to identify resource utilization and clinical process inefficiencies and to promote clinically efficient, evidence-based improvements.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of medical record and financial databases of 356 patients with ischemic stroke was performed. The medical record data were adjusted for severity, and outliers were eliminated. The resources utilized by each physician were determined. Comparative graphs were prepared, presented, and discussed. The physicians implemented two types of changes: (1) alteration of resource utilization and consultation patterns and (2) support of clinical process improvement. In 1997, a follow-up analysis of 399 patients was performed.

RESULTS

The initial comparison of internists' to neurologists' patient populations found the following: patient age (75 versus 65 years), patient severity ratings (2.8 versus 2.5), length of stay (10.7 versus 8.8 days), costs ($7360 versus $6862), mortality rates (12.5% versus 8.9%), and aspiration pneumonia rate (8.5% versus 3.8%). A comparison of the 1995 analysis to the 1997 analysis revealed the following per patient resource utilization decreases (all P < 0.05): chemistry laboratory, 2.65 to 1.95 studies; intravenous fluids, 2.85 to 1.85 L; oxygen use, 6.06 to 2.75 U; and nifedipine use, 1.62 to 0.33 capsules. The clinical process improvements resulted in the following overall outcomes (all P < 0.05 except mortality): length of stay (7.2 days), nonadjusted costs ($6246), mortality (6.5%), and rates of pneumonia (2.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

Objective analysis of resource utilization resulted in physicians changing their individual management of stroke and collectively supporting clinical process changes that improved clinical and financial outcomes.