American Heart Journal
Volume 157, Issue 6 , Pages 1010-1017 , June 2009

Influence of age on the management of heart failure: Findings from Get With the Guidelines–Heart Failure (GWTG-HF)

  • Daniel E. Forman, MD

      Affiliations

    • Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
    • VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Daniel E. Forman, MD, Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115.
    • ,
  • Christopher P. Cannon, MD

      Affiliations

    • Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
    • ,
  • Adrian F. Hernandez, MD, MHS

      Affiliations

    • Cardiovascular Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
    • ,
  • Li Liang, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Duke Clinical Research Institute; Durham, NC
    • ,
  • Clyde Yancy, MD

      Affiliations

    • Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX
    • ,
  • Gregg C. Fonarow, MD

      Affiliations

    • Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
    • ,
  • for the Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and Hospitals

Received 15 December 2008 ,Accepted 4 March 2009.

References 

  1. Thomas S, Rich MW. Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and prognosis of heart failure in the elderly. Clin Geriatr Med. 2007;23:1–10
  2. DeFrances CJ, Hall MJ, Podgornik MN. 2003 National Hospital Discharge Survey. Advance data from vital and health statistics; no. 359. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics; 2005;
  3. Redfield MM, Jacobsen SJ, Burnett JC, et al. Burden of systolic and diastolic ventricular dysfunction in the community. JAMA. 2003;289:194–202
  4. Roger VL, Weston SA, Redfield MM, et al. Trends in heart failure incidence and survival in a community-based population. JAMA. 2004;292:344–350
  5. Krumholz HM, Vaccarino V, Ellerbeck EF, et al. Determinants of appropriate use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors after acute myocardial infarction in persons > or = 65 years of age. Am J Cardiol. 1997;79:581–586
  6. Alexander KP, Peterson ED. Treatment of non–ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome in the elderly: current practice and future opportunities. Am J Geriatr Cardiol. 2006;l15:42–49
  7. Krumholz HM, Radford MJ, Ellerbeck EF, et al. Aspirin for secondary prevention after acute myocardial infarction in the elderly: prescribed use and outcomes. Ann Intern Med. 1996;124:292–298
  8. Wang TY, Robinson LA, Ou FS, et al. Discharge antithrombotic strategies among patients with acute coronary syndrome previously on warfarin anticoagulation: physician practice in the CRUSADE registry. Am Heart J. 2008;155:361–368
  9. Hernandez AF, Fonarow GC, Liang L, et al. Sex and racial differences in the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators among patients hospitalized with heart failure. JAMA. 2007;298:1525–1532
  10. Fonarow GC, Abraham WT, Albert NM, et al. Influence of a performance-improvement initiative on quality of care for patients hospitalized with heart failure. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:1493–1502
  11. Fonarow GC, Abraham WT, Albert NM, et al. Association between performance measures and clinical outcomes for patients hospitalized with heart failure. JAMA. 2007;297:61–70
  12. Fonarow GC, Abraham WT, Albert NM, et al. Organized program to initiate lifesaving treatment in hospitalized patients with heart failure (OPTIMIZE-HF): rationale and design. Am Heart J. 2004;148:43–51
  13. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . Overview of specifications for hospital compare measures. Available at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HospitalQualitylnits/downloads/HospitalOverviewOfSpecs200512.pdfLast accessed April, 2009
  14. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations . Specifications manual for National Hospital Quality Measures. Available at: http://www.jointcommission.org/PerformanceMeasurement/PerformanceMeasurement/Historical+NHQM+manuals.htmLast accessed April, 2009
  15. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . The Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) ten measure “Starter Set”. Available at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HospitalQualitylnits/downloads/HospitalStarterSet200512.pdfLast accessed April , 2009
  16. Bonow RO, Bennett S, Casey DE, et al. ACC/AHA clinical performance measures for adults with chronic heart failure: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Performance Measures. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;46:1144–1178
  17. Zeger SL, Liang KY. Longitudinal data analysis for discrete and continuous outcomes. Biometrics. 1986;42:121–130
  18. Matthews JC, Johnson ML, Koelling TM. The impact of patient-specific quality-of-care report cards on guideline adherence in heart failure. Am Heart J. 2007;154:1174–1183
  19. Bhatt DL, Roe MT, Peterson EDL, et al. Utilization of early invasive management strategies for high-risk patients with non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes: results from the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative. JAMA. 2004;292:2096–2104
  20. Hunt SA. ACC/AHA 2005 guideline update for the diagnosis and management of chronic heart failure in the adult: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;46:e1–e82
  21. Lakatta EG, Levy D. Arterial and cardiac aging: major shareholders in cardiovascular disease enterprises: part II: the aging heart in health: links to heart disease. Circulation. 2003;107:346–354
  22. Pristerer M, Buser P, Ricki H, et al. BNP-guided vs symptom-guided heart failure therapy. JAMA. 2009;301:383–392
  23. Lee DS, Tu JV, Juurlink DN, et al. Risk-treatment mismatch in the pharmacotherapy of heart failure. JAMA. 2005;294:1240–1247
  24. Bach RG, Cannon CP, Weintraub WS, et al. The effect of routine, early invasive management on outcome for elderly patients with non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:186–195
  25. Mann JL, Evans TS. A review of the management of heart failure in long-term care residents. Consult Pharm. 2006;21:222–228
  26. Alexander KP Newby LK, Armstrong PW, et al. Acute coronary care in the elderly, Part II. ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction: a scientific statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology. Circulation. 2007;115:2570–2589
  27. Wang R, Mouliswar M, Denman S, et al. Mortality of the institutionalized old-old hospitalized with congestive heart failure. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:2464–2468
  28. Ermis C, Zhu AX, Vanheel L, et al. Comparison of ventricular arrhythmia burden, therapeutic interventions, and survival, in patients <75 and patients ≥75 years of age treated with implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Europace. 2007;9:270–274

 Dr. Mihai Gheorghiade served as guest editor on this manuscipt.

PII: S0002-8703(09)00204-X

doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2009.03.010

American Heart Journal
Volume 157, Issue 6 , Pages 1010-1017 , June 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution