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Background: Many studies in high-income countries have investigated gender differences in the care and outcomes of patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, little evidence exists on gender differences among patients with AMI in lower-middle-income countries, where the proportion deaths stemming from cardiovascular disease is projected to increase dramatically. This study examines gender differences in patients in the lower-middle-income country of Egypt to determine if female patients with AMI have a different presentation, management, or outcome compared with men. Methods and Findings: Using registry data collected over 18 months from 5 Egyptian hospitals, we considered 1204 patients (253 females, 951 males) with a confirmed diagnosis of AMI. We examined gender differences in initial presentation, clinical management, and in-hospital outcomes using t-tests and x2 tests. Additionally, we explored gender differences in in-hospital death using multivariate logistic regression to adjust for age and other differences in initial presentation. We found that women were older than men, had higher BMI, and were more likely to have hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. Women were less likely to receive aspirin upon admission (p<0.01) or aspirin or statins at discharge (p = 0.001 and p<0.05, respectively), although the magnitude of these differences was small. While unadjusted in-hospital mortality was significantly higher for women (OR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.54 to 2.87), this difference did not persist in the fully adjusted model (OR: 1.18; 95% CI: 0.55 to 2.55). Conclusions: We found that female patients had a different profile than men at the time of presentation. Clinical management of men and women with AMI was similar, though there are small but significant differences in some areas. These gender differences did not translate into differences in in-hospital outcome, but highlight differences in quality of care and represent important opportunities for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Quality improvement (QI) has been shown to be effective in improving hospital care in high-income countries, but evidence of its use in low- and middle-income countries has been limited to date. The impact of a QI intervention to reduce patient waiting time and overcrowding for cardiac catheterization-the subset of procedures associated with the most severe bottlenecks in patient flow at the National Heart Institute in Cairo-was investigated., Methods: A pre-post intervention study was conducted to examine the impact of a new scheduling system on patient waiting time and overcrowdedness for cardiac catheterization. The sample consisted of 628 consecutive patients in the pre-intervention period (July-August 2009) and 1,607 in the postintervention period (September-November 2010)., Results: The intervention was associated with significant reductions in waiting time and patient crowdedness. On average, total patient waiting time from arrival to beginning the catheterization procedure decreased from 208 minutes to 180 minutes (13% decrease, p < .001). Time between arrival at registration and admission to inpatient ward unit decreased from 33 minutes to 24 minutes (27% decrease, p < .001). Patient waiting time immediately prior to the catheterization laboratory procedure decreased from 79 minutes to 58 minutes (27% decrease, p < .001). The percentage of patients arriving between 7:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. decreased from 88% to 44% (50% decrease, p < .001), reducing patient crowding., Conclusion: With little financial investment, the patient scheduling system significantly reduced waiting time and crowdedness in a resource-limited setting. The capacity-building effort enabled the hospital to sustain the scheduling system and data collection after the Egyptian revolution and departure of the mentoring team in January 2011.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Egypt and worldwide, placing great strain on the world's health systems. High-quality treatment of CVD requires a valid, reliable measurement for ensuring evidence-based care. Clinical outcomes registries have been used to support quality improvement activities in some countries, but there are few examples of their implementation in resource-limited settings. A registry for acute coronary syndrome was piloted in 5 hospitals in Egypt, and observations regarding barriers and enabling factors related to implementation are summarized. Themes that emerged from daily observations include the importance of rapid cycles of change, the need to build a culture of applied research, the importance of modeling a blame-free culture, and key constraints encountered related to human resources and technical infrastructure. This pilot demonstrates that clinical registries may be a cost-effective investment in data infrastructure to support quality improvement in low- and middle-income countries.