Drug therapy to reduce early readmission risk in heart failure: ready for prime time?

Muthiah Vaduganathan; Gregg C Fonarow; Mihai Gheorghiade

doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2013.04.010

Drug therapy to reduce early readmission risk in heart failure: ready for prime time?

JACC Heart Fail. 2013 Aug;1(4):361-364. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2013.04.010. Epub 2013 Aug 5.

Authors

Muthiah Vaduganathan¹, Gregg C Fonarow², Mihai Gheorghiade³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
² Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
³ Center for Cardiovascular Innovation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois. Electronic address: m-gheorghiade@northwestern.edu.

PMID: 24621940
DOI: 10.1016/j.jchf.2013.04.010

Abstract

Readmission for heart failure remains a major focus of policymakers, clinicians, and patients. Despite meeting key national performance measures and frequent use of evidence-based therapies, rates of 30-day post-discharge rehospitalization may be as high as 25%. Digoxin and mineralocorticoid antagonists are known to reduce admissions for heart failure, but are significantly underused in current clinical practice despite their proven benefits.

Keywords: acute heart failure; digoxin; mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists; readmissions.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Cardiotonic Agents / therapeutic use*
Digoxin / therapeutic use*
Heart Failure / drug therapy*
Humans
Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists / therapeutic use*
Patient Readmission / statistics & numerical data*
Risk
Time Factors

Substances

Cardiotonic Agents
Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists
Digoxin