The American journal of cardiology
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Delirium is an acute confusional state that is very prevalent in older patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). The association between delirium and ADHF outcome has not been well described. We analyzed 883 consecutive patients >65 years of age admitted with ADHF. ⋯ Furthermore, delirium was strongly associated with 90-day all-cause mortality in patients discharged from the hospital (adjusted hazard ratio 2.10, CI 1.53 to 2.88, p <0.0001). In conclusion, acute delirium serves as an important prognostic determinant of in-hospital and posthospital discharge outcomes including increased ADHF readmission risk in older hospitalized patients with ADHF. Thus, delirium plays an important role in the risk stratification and prognosis of patients with ADHF.
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Troponin levels have been correlated with adverse outcomes in multiple disease processes, including congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, sepsis, and, in a few small series, infective endocarditis. We hypothesized that a novel measurement of troponin using a highly sensitive assay would correlate with adverse outcomes when prospectively studied in patients with infective endocarditis. At a single center in the International Collaboration on Endocarditis, 42 patients met the inclusion criteria and underwent testing for cardiac troponin T (cTnT) using both a standard and a highly sensitive precommercial assay. ⋯ According to the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis (area under the curve of 0.74), cTnT levels of ≥0.08 ng/ml produced optimal specificity (78%) for the primary outcome. The patients with a cTnT level of ≥0.08 ng/ml were more likely to experience the primary outcome (odds ratio 7.0, 95% confidence interval 1.7 to 28.6, p <0.01) and a central nervous system event (odds ratio 9.3, 95% confidence interval 1.3 to 24.1, p = 0.02). In conclusion, cTnT is detectable in 93% of patients with infective endocarditis using a novel highly sensitive assay, with higher levels correlating with poor clinical outcomes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Comparison of contrast-induced nephrotoxicity of iodixanol and iopromide in patients with renal insufficiency undergoing coronary angiography.
This prospective, randomized, double-blind study was performed to compare the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) after the administration of the iso-osmolar contrast medium iodixanol to the low-osmolar contrast medium iopromide during coronary angiography in patients with impaired renal function. Patients with creatinine clearance (CrCl) <60 ml/min who underwent coronary angiography and/or percutaneous coronary intervention were randomized to receive either iodixanol (n = 215) or iopromide (n = 205). The primary study end point was the incidence of CIN, which was defined as an absolute increase in serum creatinine (SCr) ≥0.5 mg/dl (44.2 mol/L) or a relative increase ≥25% compared to baseline SCr. ⋯ The proportions of patients with SCr increases ≥0.5 mg/dl (6.5% vs 6.3%) and ≥1.0 mg/dl (2.8% vs 2.9%) were similar in the 2 groups. There was a tendency for more patients with relative increases ≥25% (10.2% vs 6.8%) and greater peak increases in SCr (0.037 ± 0.375 vs 0.029 ± 0.351 mg/dl) to be in the iodixanol group, but these differences were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the incidences of CIN after coronary angiography did not significantly differ between the iodixanol and iopromide groups in patients with impaired renal function.
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Multicenter Study
Impact of body mass index on the five-year outcome of patients having percutaneous coronary interventions with drug-eluting stents.
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on clinical outcome of patients treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using drug-eluting stents. Patients were stratified according to BMI as normal (<25 kg/m(2)), overweight (25 to 30 kg/m(2)), or obese (>30 kg/m(2)). At 5-year follow-up all-cause death, myocardial infarction, clinically justified target vessel revascularization (TVR), and definite stent thrombosis were assessed. ⋯ Age resulted in a linearly dependent covariate with BMI in the all-cause 5-year mortality multivariate model (p = 0.001). In conclusion, the "obesity paradox" observed in 5-year all-cause mortality could be explained by the higher rate of elderly patients in the normal BMI group and the existence of colinearity between BMI and age. However, obese patients had a higher rate of TVR and early stent thrombosis and a higher rate of other risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.