1. Randomized, controlled evaluation of short- and long-term benefits of heart failure disease management within a diverse provider network: the SPAN-CHF trial.
- Author
-
Kimmelstiel C, Levine D, Perry K, Patel AR, Sadaniantz A, Gorham N, Cunnie M, Duggan L, Cotter L, Shea-Albright P, Poppas A, LaBresh K, Forman D, Brill D, Rand W, Gregory D, Udelson JE, Lorell B, Konstam V, Furlong K, and Konstam MA
- Subjects
- Academic Medical Centers, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Body Weight, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Agents therapeutic use, Caregivers education, Comorbidity, Diet, Sodium-Restricted, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Heart Failure diet therapy, Heart Failure drug therapy, Heart Failure epidemiology, Hospitalization statistics & numerical data, Hospitals, Community, House Calls, Humans, Male, Massachusetts epidemiology, Middle Aged, Patient Compliance, Private Practice, Rhode Island epidemiology, Self Care, Severity of Illness Index, Single-Blind Method, Disease Management, Heart Failure nursing, Patient Education as Topic
- Abstract
Background: Several trials support the usefulness of disease management (DM) for improving clinical outcomes in heart failure (HF). Most of these studies are limited by small sample size; absence of concurrent, randomized controls; limited follow-up; restriction to urban academic centers; and low baseline use of effective medications., Methods and Results: We performed a prospective, randomized assessment of the effectiveness of HF DM delivered for 90 days across a diverse provider network in a heterogeneous population of 200 patients with high baseline use of approved HF pharmacotherapy. During a 90-day follow-up, patients randomized to DM experienced fewer hospitalizations for HF [primary end point, 0.55+/-0.15 per patient-year alive versus 1.14+/-0.22 per patient-year alive in control subjects; relative risk (RR), 0.48, P=0.027]. Intervention patients experienced reductions in hospital days related to a primary diagnosis of HF (4.3+/-0.4 versus 7.8+/-0.6 days hospitalized per patient-year; RR, 0.54; P<0.001), cardiovascular hospitalizations (0.81+/-0.19 versus 1.43+/-0.24 per patient-year alive; RR, 0.57; P=0.043), and days in hospital per patient-year alive for cardiovascular cause (RR, 0.64; P<0.001). Intervention patients showed a trend toward reduced all-cause hospitalizations and total hospital days. On long-term (mean, 283 days) follow-up, there was substantial attrition of the 3-month gain in outcomes, with sustained significant reduction only in days in hospital for cardiac cause., Conclusions: In a population with high background use of standard HF therapy, a DM intervention, uniformly delivered across varied clinical sites, produced significant short-term improvement in HF-related clinical outcomes. Longer-term benefit likely requires more active chronic intervention, even among patients who appear clinically stable.
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF