Communication between cardiologists and patients can significantly affect patient comprehension, adherence, and satisfaction. To our knowledge, a coaching intervention to improve cardiologist ...communication has not been tested.
To evaluate the effect of a communication coaching intervention to teach evidence-based communication skills to cardiologists.
This 2-arm randomized clinical trial was performed at outpatient cardiology clinics at an academic medical center and affiliated community clinics, and from February 2019 through March 2020 recruited 40 cardiologists and audio recorded 161 patients in the preintervention phase and 240 in the postintervention phase. Data analysis was performed from March 2022 to January 2023.
Half of the cardiologists were randomized to receive a coaching intervention that involved three 1:1 sessions, 2 of which included feedback on their audio-recorded encounters. Communication coaches taught 5 skills derived from motivational interviewing: (1) sitting down and making eye contact with all in the room, (2) open-ended questions, (3) reflective statements, (4) empathic statements, and (5) "What questions do you have?"
Coders unaware of study arm coded these behaviors in the preintervention and postintervention audio-recorded encounters (objective communication). Patients completed a survey after the visit to report perceptions of communication quality (subjective communication).
Analysis included 40 cardiologists (mean SD age, 47 9 years; 7 female and 33 male) and 240 patients in the postintervention phase (mean SD age, 58 15 years; 122 female, 118 male). When controlling for preintervention behaviors, cardiologists in the intervention vs control arm were more likely to make empathic statements (intervention: 52 of 117 44% vs control: 31 of 113 27%; P = .05); to ask, "What questions do you have?" (26 of 117 22% vs 6 of 113 5%; P = .002); and to respond with empathy when patients expressed negative emotions (mean ratio of empathic responses to empathic opportunities, 0.50 vs 0.20; P = .004). These effects did not vary based on patient or cardiologist race or sex. We found no arm differences for open-ended questions or reflective statements and were unable to assess differences in patient ratings due to ceiling effects.
In this randomized clinical trial, a communication coaching intervention improved 2 key communication behaviors: expressing empathy and eliciting questions. Empathic communication is a harder-level skill that may improve the patient experience and information comprehension. Future work should explore how best to assess the effect of communication coaching on patient perceptions of care and clinical outcomes and determine its effectiveness in larger, more diverse samples of cardiologists.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03464110.
Background Significant racial/ethnic differences exist in the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, less is known about racial/ethnic differences in quality of life (QoL), treatment, and ...outcomes associated with AF. Methods Using data from the Outcomes Registry for Better Informed Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation, we compared clinical characteristics, QoL, management strategies, and long-term outcomes associated with AF among various racial/ethnic groups. Results We analyzed 9,542 participants with AF (mean age 74 ± 11 years, 43% women, 91% white, 5% black, 4% Hispanic) from 174 centers. Compared with AF patients identified as white race, patients identified as Hispanic ethnicity and those identified as black race were younger, were more often women, and had more cardiac and noncardiac comorbidities. Black patients were more symptomatic with worse QoL and were less likely to be treated with a rhythm control strategy than other racial/ethnic groups. There were no significant racial/ethnic differences in CHA2 DS2 -VASc stroke or ATRIA bleeding risk scores and rates of oral anticoagulation use were similar. However, racial and ethnic minority populations treated with warfarin spent a lower median time in therapeutic range of international normalized ratio (59% blacks vs 68% whites vs 62% Hispanics, P < .0001). There was no difference in long-term outcomes associated with AF between the 3 groups at a median follow-up of 2.1 years. Conclusion Relative to white and Hispanic patients, black patients with AF had more symptoms, were less likely to receive rhythm control interventions, and had lower quality of warfarin management. Despite these differences, clinical events at 2 years were similar by race and ethnicity.
PR prolongation is defined primarily as delayed conduction through the AV node, but can also signify delayed electrical impulse propagation through any part of the conduction system. The prevalence ...of PR prolongation ranges from 1% to 5% in patients younger than 50 years, with increasing prevalence, after the sixth decade of life and in patients with organic heart disease. Contemporary studies have documented increased risk of atrial arrhythmias, heart failure, and mortality in patients with PR prolongation. Future studies are needed to more accurately risk stratify elderly patients with PR prolongation who may be at increased risk of adverse outcomes.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in the United States and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and health care expenditures. In this review, our aim was to ...assess the racial and ethnic differences in the epidemiology, management, and outcomes of patients with AF. A search of relevant studies from January 1, 2007, to December 30, 2017, was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science and supplemented by manual searches of the bibliographies of retrieved articles. We identified 152 studies of which 64 were subsequently included. We found that underrepresented racial and ethnic groups have a higher prevalence of established risk factors associated with the development of AF but an overall lower incidence and prevalence of AF as compared with non-Hispanic whites. Moreover, racial and ethnic differences exist in detection, awareness, and AF-associated symptoms. Nonwhite populations also experience decreased use of rhythm control modalities and anticoagulation for stroke prevention. Lastly, among those with AF, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups had increased morbidity and mortality relative to white groups. Racial and ethnic differences exist in the prevalence, quality of life, management, and outcomes of individuals with AF; however, the mechanisms for these differences have yet to be fully elucidated. Racial and ethnic differences in AF warrant further analysis to understand the factors contributing to the differences in prevalence and management to ensure the delivery of high quality care that prevents stroke, reduces deaths, and decreases expenses associated with caring for underrepresented populations with AF.
Many have found racial differences in clinician-patient communication using validated codebooks that represent effective communication. No codebooks used for examining racial differences, however, ...have included patient input. In this paper, we describe creating codebook with Black patient advocates to determine if we could reliably code discriminatory/valuing communication and assess racial differences in these behaviors.
We created a codebook for discriminatory/valuing communication behaviors with the input of Black patient advocates. We used the codebook to analyze data from 101 audio recorded encounters between White cardiologists and Black and White patients. We examined the differences in the prevalence of behaviors in cardiology encounters.
In comparison to White patients, cardiologists made fewer tailoring statements to their Black patients (68% vs. 49%, p = 0.07). Coders found 4 instances of stereotyping behaviors and only Black patients (p = 0.12). We found no significant associations between any of the other outcomes and patient race. Black patients had a lower incidence of tailoring statements (p = 0.13), lower incidence of interrupting statements (p = 0.16), and higher rushed global score (p = 0.14).
We found that coders can reliably identify discriminatory/valuing behaviors in cardiology encounters. Future work should apply these codes to other datasets to assess their validity and generalizability.
•This is one of the first studies that included the patient voice to determine clinician communication that might constitute perceived discrimination or validation.•We found racial differences in some of the communication behaviors.•We found differences in tailoring where cardiologists were more likely to tailor their communication with their White patients.
Traditional transvenous pacemakers are associated with worsening tricuspid valve function due to lead-related leaflet impingement, as well as ventricular dysfunction related to electromechanical ...dyssynchrony from chronic right ventricular (RV) pacing. The association of leadless pacing with ventricular and valvular function has not been well established. We aimed to assess the association of leadless pacemaker placement with changes in valvular regurgitation and ventricular function.
Echocardiographic features before and after leadless pacemaker implant were analyzed in consecutive patients who received a leadless pacemaker with pre- and postprocedure echocardiography at Duke University Hospital between November 2014 and November 2019. Valvular regurgitation was graded ordinally from 0 (none) to 3 (severe). Among 54 patients, the mean age was mean age was 70.1 ± 14.3 years, 24 (44%) were women, and the most frequent primary pacing indication was complete heart block in 24 (44%). The median RV pacing burden was 45.4 (interquartile range IQR 3.5-97.0). On echocardiogram performed 8.9 months (IQR 4.5-14.5) after implant, there was no change in the average severity of tricuspid regurgitation (mean change 0.07 ± 1.15, p = .64) from pre-procedure echocardiogram. We observed a decrease in the average left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (52.3 ± 9.3 to 47.9 ± 12.1, p = .0019) and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (1.8 ± 0.6 to 1.6 ± 0.4, p = .0437). Thirteen patients (24%) had absolute drop in LVEF of ≥10%.
We did not observe short term worsening valvular function in patients with leadless pacemakers. However, consistent with the pathophysiologic impact of RV pacing, leadless pacing was associated with a reduction in biventricular function.
Purpose of Review
Pharmacoequity refers to the goal of ensuring that all patients have access to high-quality medications, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or other characteristics. The ...goal of this article is to review current evidence on disparities in access to cardiovascular drug therapies across sociodemographic subgroups, with a focus on heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and dyslipidemia.
Recent Findings
Considerable and consistent disparities to life-prolonging heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and dyslipidemia medications exist in clinical trial representation, access to specialist care, prescription of guideline-based therapy, drug affordability, and pharmacy accessibility across racial, ethnic, gender, and other sociodemographic subgroups.
Summary
Researchers, health systems, and policy makers can take steps to improve pharmacoequity by diversifying clinical trial enrollment, increasing access to inpatient and outpatient cardiology care, nudging clinicians to increase prescription of guideline-directed medical therapy, and pursuing system-level reforms to improve drug access and affordability.
Race Effects in CVD Prediction Models Essien, Utibe R.; Jackson, Larry R.
Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM,
04/2019, Letnik:
34, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Background
Symptomatic sinus node dysfunction (SND) consists of a variety of manifestations, including tachycardia‐bradycardia syndrome. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is commonly associated with SND, ...which complicates the management of both conditions. This paper reviews the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical trial data investigating therapeutic approaches for treatment of patients with both SND and AF.
Methods
The authors reviewed articles published in English describing the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and therapeutic approaches for patients with SND and AF. The search was conducted using PubMed. Keywords included: sick sinus syndrome, sinus node dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, pacing, and pulmonary vein isolation.
Results
SND affects up to one in five patients with AF. AF can lead to anatomical and electrophysiological remodeling in both atria, including the region of sinoatrial node. Changes including atrial fibrosis, altered calcium channel metabolism, and transformed gene expression have been demonstrated in patients with AF and SND. Nonrandomized clinical trial data have failed to demonstrate whether any pacing strategy can reduce the risk of AF. Pulmonary vein isolation appears to decrease episodes of tachybrady syndrome and sinus pauses.
Conclusions
SND affects up to one in five patients with AF. The pathophysiological derangements in gene expression, ion channel metabolism, and alterations in myocardial architecture associated with AF may lead to anatomic and electrical changes in the region of the sinoatrial node. Ablation may improve symptoms associated with SND in patients with AF. Future randomized trials are needed to clarify the epidemiology and optimal management of patients with SND and AF.
While oral anticoagulation is a cornerstone of stroke prevention therapy in atrial fibrillation (AF), few studies have evaluated comparative discontinuation rates in clinical practice. The objective ...of this study is to evaluate discontinuation rates among patients on warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in clinical practice.
The ORBIT-AF II Registry enrolled 10,005 total AF patients with a CHA2DS2VASc score of ≥2 on warfarin or DOACs from 235 clinical practices across the US from February 13, 2013 and July 12, 2017. Descriptive statistics and multivariable Cox regression modeling were used to describe baseline characteristics and predictors of discontinuation. Unadjusted and adjusted discontinuation rates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models and propensity score adjustment, respectively.
At baseline, 16.4% (N = 1642/10,005) were treated with warfarin, 83.6% (N = 8363/10,005) with DOACs and 1498/10,005 patients (15.0%) discontinued therapy warfarin = 236/1642 (14.4%) vs DOACs = 1262/8363 (15.1%). At 6 and 12 months respectively, among 7049 patients with a new diagnosis of AF within 6 months, adjusted discontinuation rates for warfarin versus DOACs were as follows: 6 months: 7.9%, 95%CI (6.8%-9.0%) vs 9.6% (8.4%-10.7%), P = .16; 12 months: 12.7% (11.0%-14.3%) vs 15.3% (13.6%-16.9%), P = .02). Patients who discontinued therapy with warfarin or DOACs had higher risk of adverse clinical outcomes including: all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death (CV) than those who continued treatment.
In a community based AF cohort, adjusted rates of discontinuation at 12-months were higher in DOAC-treated versus VKA-treated patients. Discontinuation of oral anticoagulation was associated with increased absolute risk of all-cause mortality and CV death.
URL:https://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique Identifier: NCT01701817
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