ACE inhibitors help heart patients.Almost a third of heart failure patients face an increased risk of death because they do not receive an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association American Heart Association (AHA), n.pr a national voluntary health agency that has the goal of increasing public and medical awareness of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and thereby reducing the number of associated deaths and disabilities. . ACE inhibitors--on the market for nearly two decades--block the harmful effects of angiotensin, a substance that causes blood vessels to narrow, said the study authors. A review of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid U.S. government programs in effect since 1966. Medicare covers most people 65 or older and those with long-term disabilities. Part A, a hospital insurance plan, also pays for home health visits and hospice care. Services' National Heart Care Project showed that 32 percent of elderly heart failure patients were discharged from hospitals without prescriptions for ACE inhibitors. Patients discharged without anti-angiotensin therapy had a 14 percent greater risk of dying within a year compared to patients treated with ACE inhibitors. "The under-use of lifesaving medications in patients with systolic heart failure systolic heart failure Cardiology Heart failure with a severely reduced systolic function–LV ejection fraction of ≤35%. Cf Diastolic heart failure. is a pervasive problem throughout the healthcare community," said Frederick Masoudi, M.D., MSPH, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Denver Health Medical Center Denver Health Medical Center is a large hospital in Denver, Colorado. Formerly known as Denver General Hospital, Denver Health's primary focus is care for the underprivileged and uninsured. Denver Health is Colorado's primary “safety net” institution. and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) is part of the University of Colorado System. It has recently been merged with the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) to form the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. in Denver. "Our study provides good evidence ... to validate current guideline recommendations that all patients with systolic Systolic The phase of blood circulation in which the heart's pumping chambers (ventricles) are actively pumping blood. The ventricles are squeezing (contracting) forcefully, and the pressure against the walls of the arteries is at its highest. dysfunction should be getting ACE inhibitors, unless they have a contraindication contraindication /con·tra·in·di·ca·tion/ (-in?di-ka´shun) any condition which renders a particular line of treatment improper or undesirable. con·tra·in·di·ca·tion n. to the use of these drugs." The study shows the benefits of ACE inhibitors in heart patients for whom the benefits of the drugs have been controversial, Masoudi said. Those patients have included the very old, women, African-Americans, and patients with kidney disease and other high-risk conditions. In an editorial accompanying the article, Stanford University health services researcher Mark Hlatky, M.D., noted that using ACE inhibitors to treat heart failure has reached a plateau in recent years, leaving a substantial gap between current medical practices and optimal care. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion