The American journal of medicine
-
Participation in cardiac rehabilitation has been shown to decrease mortality after acute myocardial infarction, but its impact on readmissions requires examination. ⋯ Cardiac rehabilitation participation is associated with a markedly reduced risk of readmission and death after incident myocardial infarction. Improving cardiac rehabilitation participation rates may have a large impact on post-myocardial infarction healthcare resource use and outcomes.
-
The placebo effect is defined as any improvement of symptoms or signs following a physically inert intervention. Its effects are especially profound in relieving subjective symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and depression. Present to a variable extent in all therapeutic encounters, this effect is intensified by hands-on contact with close verbal communication between caregiver and recipient. ⋯ Physicians must be skeptical about apparent "responses" to treatments, using the information described herein to better understand what we are-or are not-accomplishing to provide the best possible outcomes for our patients. Less well studied, the "nocebo effect" defines negative responses to placebo interventions. This latter effect may be quite profound and likely is causative in many maladies believed to have psychic origins.
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
Beta-blocker use in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in the reperfusion era (GRACE).
Current guidelines recommend early oral beta-blocker administration in the management of acute coronary syndromes for patients who are not at high risk of complications. ⋯ Early beta-blocker use is common in patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction, with oral administration being the most prevalent. Oral beta-blockers were associated with a decrease in the risk of cardiogenic shock, ventricular arrhythmias, and acute heart failure. However, the early receipt of any form of beta-blockers was associated with an increase in hospital mortality.