Over 93 percent of heart attack patients are receiving stents within the guideline-recommended threshold of 90 minutes after arriving at the hospital, with the median time to stenting only 59 minutes, according to a broad report on trends in heart disease care from the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology .
The report "Trends in Cardiovascular Care in the United States: a Report from Four American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry Programs" provides insights into the patient populations, participating centers and patterns of care based on 2014 data from 4 of the 10 NCDR programs - CathPCI Registry, ICD Registry, ACTION Registry-GWTG and IMPACT Registry.
The authors of the report said the registry data provide unique perspectives into the care and outcomes of heart disease care in the U.S. and illustrate the strength of national quality programs, like NCDR, in advancing the effectiveness and safety of treatments for heart disease patients.
"We were able to report on the care and outcomes of patients undergoing common cardiovascular procedures, including percutaneous coronary interventions, implantable defibrillators, and interventions for congenital heart disease as well as for patients with acute heart attacks," NCDR Management Board Chair and lead author of the study Frederick A. Masoudi, MD, MSPH, FACC , said. "In some cases, hospitals are consistently providing excellent care; the registries, however, allow us to identify those aspects of care where the cardiovascular clinical community can improve."
Key findings from each registry include:
CathPCI Registry
ICD Registry
ACTION Registry-GWTG
IMPACT Registry
In a corresponding executive summary also published in JACC, Masoudi said "NCDR data provide a unique, clinically rich national perspective on the care and outcomes of high-impact cardiovascular conditions and procedures that are not available elsewhere."
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The American College of Cardiology is a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more, visit acc.org .
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology is the most widely read cardiovascular journal in the world and is the top ranked cardiovascular journal for its scientific impact. JACC is the flagship for a family of journals that publish peer-reviewed research on all aspects of cardiovascular disease. JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging and JACC: Heart Failure also rank among the top ten cardiovascular journals for impact. JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology and JACC: Basic to Translational Science are the newest journals in the JACC family. Learn more at JACC.org .
Journal of the American College of Cardiology