8^th Global Cardiologists and Echocardiography Annual Meeting

Biography

Biography: Aldo Pietro Maggioni

Abstract

Aims: Patients with heart failure (HF) randomized in controlled trials are generally selected and do not fully represent the “real world”. The purpose of this presentation is to better describe the characteristics of HF analyzing administrative data of a population of nearly 2,500,000 subjects. Methods: Data came from the ARNO Observatory including in-habitants of 5 Local Health Units of the Italian National Health Service (INHS). Patients were selected when discharged for HF (January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2012). Clinical characteristics, pharmacological treatments, rate and reasons for re-hospitalization and direct costs for the INHS occurring during 1 year follow-up (FU) were described. Results: Of the 2,456,739 subjects included in the database, 54,059 (2.2%) were hospitalized for HF: 41,413 were discharged alive and prescribed on HF treatments. Mean age was 78±11 years, females accounted for 51.4%. Just 26.6% were managed in a cardiology setting. The more frequent co-morbidities were diabetes (30.7%), COPD (30.5%) and depression (21%). ACE-inhibitors/Angiotensin Receptor Blockers, Beta-Blockers and Mineralocorticoid antagonists were prescribed in 65.8, 49.7 and 42.1% of patients. During 1-year FU at least one re-hospitalization occurred in 56.6% of patients, 49% of them were due to non-cardiovascular causes. INHS’s direct cost per patient per year was 11,867€ of which 76% related to hospitalizations. Conclusions: Real world evidence provides a description of patients’ characteristics and treatment patterns that are very different from those reported by randomized clinical trials. Costs for the INHS are mainly driven by hospitalizations which are often due to non-cardiovascular reasons.