Abstract
BackgroundCardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in Austria. However, no systematic information exists regarding characteristics and treatments of contemporary patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) in Austria. We assembled two retrospective physicians’ databases to describe demographics, clinical profiles, and therapeutic strategies in patients with stable CAD. In addition, we compared patient profiles of secondary care internists and hospital-based cardiologists with those of general practitioners in a primary care setting outside of hospital.MethodsThe study population was identified from retrospective chart review of 1020 patients from 106 primary care physicians in Austria (ProCor II registry), and was merged with a previous similar database of 1280 patients under secondary care (ProCor I registry) to yield a total patient number of 2300.ResultsFemale patients with stable CAD were older, had more angina and/or heart failure symptoms, and more depression than males. Female gender, type 2 diabetes mellitus, higher CCS class and asthma/COPD were predictors of elevated heart rate, while previous coronary events/revascularization predicted a lower heart rate in multivariate analysis. There were no significant differences with regard to characteristics and management of patients of general practitioners in the primary care setting versus internists in secondary care.ConclusionsCharacteristics and treatments of unselected patients with stable ischemic heart disease in Austria resemble the pattern of large international registries of stable ischemic heart disease, with the exception that diabetes and systemic hypertension were more prevalent.
Highlights
Coronary artery disease (CAD) has been the major cause of death worldwide
Characteristics and treatments of unselected patients with stable ischemic heart disease in Austria resemble the pattern of large international registries of stable ischemic heart disease, with the exception that diabetes and systemic hypertension were more prevalent
Inclusion criteria for patients in both studies (Procor I and II) were currently stable CAD based on a history of at least one of the following: 1) Documented myocardial infarction; 2) Coronary angiography showing at least one coronary stenosis of more than 50%; 3) Chest pain with myocardial ischemia proven by stress ECG, stress echocardiography or myocardial nuclear imaging; 4) previous coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
Summary
Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in Austria. No systematic information exists regarding characteristics and treatments of contemporary patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) in Austria. We assembled two retrospective physicians’ databases to describe demographics, clinical profiles, and therapeutic strategies in patients with stable CAD. We compared patient profiles of secondary care internists and hospital-based cardiologists with those of general practitioners in a primary care setting outside of hospital
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