Trends in pharmacological therapy following an acute coronary syndrome in Portugal

Kidney Disease as Risk of In-Hospital Mortality in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background

An acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event can be linked to several risk factors, including kidney disease. Currently, it is unknown if kidney disease is associated with the in-hospital mortality of patients admitted with ACS, regardless of the main confounders. In this study, we aimed to determine if kidney disease predicts in-hospital mortality among ACS patients.

Methodology

This is a retrospective cohort study that included patients who were admitted to the cardiology center with ACS. The patients were analyzed for their clinical characteristics, previous diseases, risk factors, and blood samples for laboratory analysis. Continuous variables were analyzed using Student’s t-test, and categorical variables using the chi-square test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Of the 340 patients who were included in the study, 59 had ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The mean age of the patients was 62.17 years, 59.41% were male, 67.9% were Caucasian, 26% had diabetes, and 20% had a history of coronary artery disease. Age, systolic blood pressure, and a history of myocardial infarction and chronic kidney disease were linked with a higher mortality rate. In the multivariate analysis, only kidney disease was shown to be an independent marker of mortality.

Conclusions

Among individuals admitted with ACS, kidney disease at hospital admission is associated with increased chances of in-hospital mortality, regardless of other major and minor cardiovascular comorbidities and inflammation at baseline.

Beta-blocker therapy reduces mortality in patients with coronary artery disease treated with percutaneous revascularization: a meta-analysis of adjusted results

AIMS

The long-term impact of beta blockers on prognosis in patients treated with contemporary therapies for coronary artery disease remains to be defined.

METHODS AND RESULTS

All observational studies evaluating the impact of beta blockers in patients treated with coronary revascularization and contemporary therapies and adjusted with multivariate analysis were included. All-cause death was the primary endpoint, while Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE) (composite endpoint of all-cause death or myocardial infarction, MI) and MI were secondary endpoints. A total of 26 studies were included, with 863 335 patients. After 3 (1-4.3) years, long-term risk of all-cause death was lower in patients on beta blockers [odds ratio, OR 0.69 (0.66-0.72)], both for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) [OR 0.60 (0.56-0.65)], and stable angina patients [OR 0.84 (0.78-0.91)], independently from ejection fraction [OR 0.64 (0.42-0.98) for reduced ejection fraction and OR 0.79 (0.69-0.91) for preserved ejection fraction]. The risk of long-term MACE was lower but NS for ACS patients treated with beta blockers [OR 0.83 (0.69-1.00)], as in stable angina. Similarly, risk of MI did not differ between patients treated with beta blockers or without beta blockers [OR 0.99 (0.89-1.09), all 95% confidence intervals]. Using meta-regression analysis, the benefit of beta blockers was increased for those with longer follow-up. The number needed to treat was 52 to avoid one event of all-cause death for ACS patients and 111 for stable patients.

CONCLUSION

Even in percutaneous coronary intervention era, beta blockers reduce mortality in patients with coronary artery disease, confirming their protective effect, which was consistent for both ACS and stable patients indifferently of preserved or reduced ejection fraction.