Resource utilization, cost, and health status impacts of coronary stent versus "optimal" percutaneous coronary angioplasty: results from the OPUS-I trial

Functional Status and Search for Meaning After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in the search for meaning and functional status (psychological and physical) between persons who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention and have recurrent angina symptoms and those who do not have recurrent symptoms. Participants (224; 147 male, 77 female) who underwent PCI completed the following study materials: Meaning in Heart Disease instrument, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and SF36v2™. Persons with recurrent angina symptoms (40% of the sample) were more likely to have higher disrupted meaning, greater anxiety, greater depression, lower physical functioning, and greater use of meaning-based coping (searching for answers and refocusing global meaning) compared with individuals without recurrent symptoms. Interventions are needed to identify the risk of recurrent symptoms after percutaneous coronary intervention and provide coping and cognitive behavioral interventions focused on managing the psychological and physical disruptions.

Intense cardiac troponin surveillance for long-term benefits is cost-effective in patients undergoing open abdominal aortic surgery: a decision analysis model

BACKGROUND

Strategies to limit adverse cardiac events after vascular surgery continue to evolve. Early recognition and treatment of myocardial ischemia may be a key to improving postoperative survival rates. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) screening is an effective means of surveillance for postoperative myocardial ischemic injury and has long-term prognostic value.

METHODS

We designed a Markov-based decision analysis model to determine the cost-effectiveness of routine surveillance with cTnI on postoperative Days 0, 1, 2, and 3, with an aim to institute tight heart rate control (60-65 bpm) with close monitoring and coronary care in the intensive care unit for 5 days in patients with cTnI >1.5 ng/mL. The key input variables obtained from published literature were as follows: probability of myocardial infarction, 0.049; cost of cTnI surveillance, $357; cost and efficacy of interventions, $13,145 and 0.55, respectively. The time horizon was lifetime and the target population being individuals aged 65 yr (median) undergoing elective open abdominal aortic surgery. The perspective for analysis was third-party payer.

RESULTS

The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for cTnI surveillance was $12,641 per quality-adjusted life year compared with standard care without cTnI surveillance. During one-way sensitivity analysis, probability of myocardial infarction and efficacy of interventions were found to influence the cost-effectiveness. Multivariate sensitivity analysis with second-order Monte Carlo simulation revealed that cTnI surveillance was favored in 90.75% of simulations at a commonly used threshold of $50,000 per quality-adjusted life year.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients presenting for elective open abdominal aortic surgery, intensive surveillance with cTnI and early institution of aggressive beta-blockade is cost-effective.

Reliability and validity of the Norwegian translation of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire following myocardial infarction

The aim of this study was to validate the Norwegian version of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ), a self-administered 19-item questionnaire designed to assess health-related quality of life in patients with chest pain or coronary artery disease. In 885 patients with prior myocardial infarction (MI), we abstracted clinical data from the patients' medical records. Two to three years after the MI, we mailed a self-administered questionnaire including the SAQ, the Short Form 36 (SF-36), and questions about current medication, to the 548 patients still alive. The response rate was 74%. Internal consistency reliability of the SAQ, assessed with Cronbach's alpha, ranged 0.75-0.92. Test-retest reliability, tested with an intraclass correlation coefficient, ranged 0.29-0.84. The pattern of association between similar and dissimilar scales of the SAQ and SF-36 mainly supported the construct validity of the SAQ. Four of the five SAQ scales discriminated between patients with different medication regimens as a proxy for severity of angina pectoris. We conclude that the Norwegian version of the SAQ showed acceptable reliability and cross-sectional validity following MI, with properties in line with the original US version.