Background: Contemporary guidelines advocate for early invasive strategy with coronary angiography in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS). Still, the impact of an invasive strategy in older patients remains controversial and may be challenging in spoke hospitals with no catheterization laboratory (cath-lab) facility. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyse the characteristics and outcomes of patients ≥80 years old with NSTE-ACS admitted to spoke hospitals. Methods: Observational–retrospective study of all consecutive NSTE-ACS patients admitted to two spoke hospitals of our cardiology network, where a service strategy (same-day transfer between a spoke hospital and a hub centre with a cath-lab facility in order to perform coronary angiography) was available. Patients were followed up for 1 year after the admission date. Results: From 2013 to 2017, 639 patients were admitted for NSTE-ACS; of these, 181 (28%) were ≥80 years old (median 84, IQR 82–89) and represented the study cohort. When the invasive strategy was chosen (in 105 patients, or 58%), 98 patients (93%) were initially managed with a service strategy, whereas the remainder of the patients were transferred from the spoke hospital to the hub centre where they completed their hospital stay. Of the patients managed with the service strategy, a shift of strategy after the invasive procedure was necessary for 10 (10%). These patients remained in the hub centre, while the rest of the patients were sent back to the spoke hospitals, with no adverse events observed during the back transfer. The median time to access the cath-lab was 50 h (IQR 25–87), with 73 patients (70%) reaching the invasive procedure <72 h from hospital admission. A conservative strategy was associated with: older age, known CAD, clinical presentation with symptoms of LV dysfunction, lower EF, renal failure, higher GRACE score, presence of PAD and atrial fibrillation (all p < 0.03). At the 1-year follow-up, the overall survival was significantly higher in patients treated with an invasive strategy compared to patients managed conservatively (94% ± 2 vs. 54% ± 6, p < 0.001; HR: 10.4 [4.7–27.5] p < 0.001), even after adjustment for age, serum creatinine, known previous CAD and EF (adjusted HR: 2.0 [1.0–4.0]; p < 0.001). Conclusions: An invasive strategy may confer a survival benefit in the elderly with NSTE-ACS. The same-day transfer between a spoke hospital and a hub centre with a cath-lab facility (service strategy) is safe and may grant access to the cath-lab in a timely fashion, even for the elderly. Full article

We evaluated the 3-year clinical outcomes of early invasive (EI) and delayed invasive (DI) strategies in older and younger adults with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) undergoing successful new-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation to reflect current real-world practice. Overall, 4513 patients with NSTEMI were recruited from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institute of Health and divided into two groups according to age: group A (age ≥ 65 years, n = 2253) and group B (age < 65 years, n = 2260). These two groups were further divided into two subgroups: group EI (A1 and B1) and DI (A2 and B2). The primary clinical outcome was the occurrence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs), defined as all-cause death, recurrent MI (re-MI), any repeat coronary revascularization, or stroke. The secondary clinical outcome was definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST). In both groups A and B, after multivariable-adjusted and propensity score-adjusted analyses, MACCE (group A, p = 0.137 and p = 0.255, respectively; group B, p = 0.171 and p = 0.135, respectively), all-cause death, cardiac death (CD), non-CD, re-MI, any repeat revascularization, stroke, and ST rates were similar between the EI and DI groups. When including only those with complex lesions, the primary and secondary clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the EI and DI groups. In the era of new-generation DESs, major clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the EI and DI strategies in both older and younger adults with NSTEMI. Full article

Background: Patients with heart failure encompass a heterogeneous group, but they are mostly elderly patients with a large burden of comorbid conditions. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics and the prognostic impact on hospital admissions and mortality in a population of patients with HF with different types of caregivers (family members, professionals, and the patient himself). Methods: We conducted an observational study from a prospective registry. Patients from the National Registry of Heart Failure (RICA), which belongs to the Working Group on Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), were included. Patients with heart failure were classified, according to the type of main caregiver, into four groups: the patient himself/herself, a partner, children, or a professional caregiver. A bivariable analysis was performed between the clinical, analytical, therapeutic, and prognostic characteristics of the different groups. The endpoints of the study were all-cause mortality at 1 year; mortality at 120 days; and the readmission rate for HF at 30 days, 120 days, and 1 year of follow-up. In all cases, the level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 2147 patients were enrolled in this study; women represented 52.4%, and the mean age was 81 years. The partner was the caregiver for 703 patients, children were caregivers for 1097 patients, 199 patients had a professional caregiver, and only 148 patients were their own caregivers. Women were more frequently cared for by their children (65.8%) or a professional caregiver (61.8%); men were more frequently cared for by their spouses (68.7%) and more frequently served as their own caregivers (59.5%) (p < 0.001). No statistically significant differences were observed in relation to readmissions or mortality at one year of follow-up between the different groups. A lower probability of readmission and death was observed for patients who received care from a partner or children/relative, with log-rank scores of 11.2 with p= 0.010 and 10.8 with p = 0.013. Conclusions: Our study showed that the presence of a family caregiver for elderly patients with heart failure was associated with a lower readmission rate and a lower mortality rate at 120 days of follow-up. Our study also demonstrated that elderly patients with good cognitive and functional status can be their own caregivers, as they obtained good health outcomes in terms of readmission and mortality. More prospective studies and clinical trials are needed to evaluate the impact of different types of caregivers on the outcomes of patients with heart failure. Full article

Background: Information about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in heart failure (HF) in older adults is scarce. Methods: We aimed to describe the HRQoL of the SENECOR study cohort, a single-center, randomized trial comparing the effects of multidisciplinary intervention by a geriatrician and a cardiologist (intervention group) to that of a cardiologist alone (control group) in older patients with a recent HF hospitalization. Results: HRQoL was assessed by the short version of the disease-specific Kansas Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ-12) in 141 patients at baseline and was impaired (KCCQ-12 < 75) in almost half of the cohort. Women comprised 50% of the population, the mean age was 82.2 years, and two-thirds of patients had preserved ejection fraction. Comorbidities were highly prevalent. Patients with impaired HRQoL had a worse NYHA functional class, a lower NT-proBNP, a lower Barthel index, and a higher Clinical Frailty Scale. One-year all-cause mortality was 22.7%, significantly lower in the group with good-to-excellent HRQoL (14.5% vs. 30.6%; hazard ratio 0.28; 95% confidence interval 0.10–0.78; p = 0.014). In the group with better HRQoL, all-cause hospitalization was lower, and there was a trend towards lower HF hospitalization. Conclusions: The KCCQ-12 questionnaire can provide inexpensive prognostic information even in older patients with HF. (Funded by grant Primitivo de la Vega, Fundación MAPFRE. ClinicalTrials number, NCT03555318). Full article

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a cardiac emergency with an increasing incidence, especially among elderly patients. The Emergency Heart failure Mortality Risk Grade (EHMRG) has been validated to assess the 7-days AHF mortality risk, suggesting the management of patients admitted to an emergency department (ED). EHMRG has never been implemented in Italian ED nor among elderly patients. We aimed to assess EHMRG score accuracy in predicting in-hospital death in a retrospective cohort of elderly subjects admitted for AHF from the ED to an Internal Medicine Department. We enrolled, in a 24-months timeframe, all the patients admitted to an Internal Medicine Department from ED for AHF. We calculated the EHMRG score, subdividing patients into six categories, and assessing in-hospital mortality and length of stay. We evaluated EHMRG accuracy with ROC curve analysis and survival with Kaplan–Meier and Cox models. We collected 439 subjects, with 45 in-hospital deaths (10.3%), observing a significant increase of in-hospital death along with EHMRG class, from 0% (class 1) to 7.7% (class 5b; p < 0.0001). EHMRG was fairly accurate in the whole cohort (AUC: 0.75; 95%CI: 0.68–0.83; p < 0.0001), with the best cutoff observed at >103 (Se: 71.1%; Sp: 72.8%; LR+: 2.62; LR-: 0.40; PPV: 23.0%; NPV: 95.7%), but performed better considering the events in the first seven days of admission (AUC: 0.83; 95%; CI: 0.75–0.91; p < 0.0001). In light of our observations, EHMRG can be useful also for the Italian emergency system to predict the risk of short-term mortality for AHF among elderly patients. EHMRG performance was better in the first seven days but remained acceptable when considering the whole period of hospitalization. Full article

Frailty is an age-related decline in physical, socio-psychological and cognitive function that results in extreme vulnerability to stressors. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate which tests have to be selected to detect frailty in a comprehensive and feasible manner in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients based on multivariate regression and sensitivity/specificity analyses. Patients (n = 133, mean age 78 ± 7 years) hospitalised for coronary revascularisation or heart failure (HF) were examined using the Fried and Vigorito criteria, together with some additional measurements. Moreover, to examine the association of frailty with 6-month clinical outcomes, hospitalisations and mortality up to 6 months after the initial hospital admission were examined. Some level of frailty was detected in 44% of the patients according to the Vigorito criteria and in 65% of the patients according to the Fried criteria. Frailty could best be detected by a score based on: sex, Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Katz scale, timed up-and-go test (TUG), handgrip strength, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and total number of medications. Frailty and specific markers of frailty were significantly associated with mortality and six-month hospitalisations. We thus can conclude that, in patients with CVD, sex, MNA, Katz scale, TUG, handgrip strength, MMSE, GDS-15 and total number of medications play a key role in detecting frailty, assessed by a new time- and cost-efficient test battery. Full article

As society is ageing, an increasing prevalence of elderly heart failure patients will be expected. In order to increase the donor pool, acceptance of older donors might be a reasonable choice. All patients undergoing heart transplantation between 2010 and 2021 at a single department were retrospectively reviewed and divided into different study groups with regard to recipient (≤60 years (R^Y) or >60 years (R^O)) and donor age (≤50 years (D^Y) or >50 years (D^O). A total of n = 201 patients were included (D^Y/R^Y, n = 91; D^O/R^Y, n = 38; D^Y/R^O, n = 41; D^O/R^O, n = 31). Neither incidence of severe primary graft dysfunction (p = 0.64) nor adverse events, such as kidney failure (p = 0.27), neurological complications (p = 0.63), infections (p = 0.21) or acute graft rejection (p = 1.00), differed between the groups. However, one-year survival was impaired in the D^O/R^O group (56.0%) compared to the other groups (D^Y/R^Y: 86.1%, D^Y/R^O: 78.8%, D^O/R^Y: 74.2%, p = 0.02). Given the impaired one-year survival, acceptance of grafts from old donors for old recipients should be performed with caution and by experienced centres only. Nevertheless, because of the otherwise dismal prognosis of elderly heart failure patients, transplantation of patients may still improve the therapy outcome. Full article

Background: This paper aims to evaluate the concordance between the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula and alternative equations and to assess their predictive power for all-cause mortality in unselected patients discharged alive from a cardiology ward. Methods: We retrospectively included patients admitted to our Cardiology Division independently of their diagnosis. The total population was classified according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) categories, as follows: G1 (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥90 mL/min/1.73 m²); G2 (eGFR 89–60 mL/min/1.73 m²); G3a (eGFR 59–45 mL/min/1.73 m²); G3b (eGFR 44–30 mL/min/1.73 m²); G4 (eGFR 29–15 mL/min/1.73 m²); G5 (eGFR <15 mL/min/1.73 m²). Cockcroft-Gault (CG), CG adjusted for body surface area (CG-BSA), Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), Berlin Initiative Study (BIS-1), and Full Age Spectrum (FAS) equations were also assessed. Results: A total of 806 patients were included. Good agreement was found between the CKD-EPI formula and CG-BSA, MDRD, BIS-1, and FAS equations. In subjects younger than 65 years or aged ≥85 years, CKD-EPI and MDRD showed the highest agreement (Cohen’s kappa (K) 0.881 and 0.588, respectively) while CG showed the lowest. After a median follow-up of 407 days, overall mortality was 8.2%. The risk of death was higher in lower eGFR classes (G3b HR4.35; 95%CI 1.05–17.80; G4 HR7.13; 95%CI 1.63–31.23; G5 HR25.91; 95%CI 6.63–101.21). The discriminant capability of death prediction tested with ROC curves showed the best results for BIS-1 and FAS equations. Conclusion: In our cohort, the concordance between CKD-EPI and other equations decreased with age, with the MDRD formula showing the best agreement in both younger and older patients. Overall, mortality rates increased with the renal function decreasing. In patients aged ≥75 years, the best discriminant capability for death prediction was found for BIS-1 and FAS equations. Full article

This study aimed to determine the effect of hospital-acquired functional decline (HAFD) on prognosis, 1-year post-hospital discharge, of older patients who had undergone cardiac surgery in seven Japanese hospitals between June 2017 and June 2018. This multicenter prospective cohort study involved 247 patients with cardiac disease aged ≥65 years. HAFD was defined as a decrease in the short physical performance battery at hospital discharge compared with before surgery. Primary outcomes included a composite outcome of frailty severity, total mortality, and cardiovascular readmission 1-year post-hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes were changes in the total score and sub-item scores in the Ki-hon Checklist (KCL), assessed pre- and 1-year postoperatively. Poor prognostic outcomes were observed in 33% of patients, and multivariate analysis identified HAFD (odds ratio [OR] 3.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.75–6.72, p < 0.001) and low preoperative gait speed (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.18–5.17, p = 0.016) as independent predictors of poor prognosis. Patients with HAFD had significantly worse total KCL scores and subscale scores for instrumental activities of daily living, mobility, oral function, and depression at 1-year post-hospital discharge. HAFD is a powerful predictor of prognosis in older patients who have undergone cardiac surgery. Full article

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is one of the most common procedures performed in medicine. However, its net benefit among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is less well established than in the general population. The prevalence of patients suffering from both CAD and CKD is high, and is likely to increase in the coming years. Planning the adequate management of this group of patients is crucial to improve their outcome after PCI. This starts with proper preparation before the procedure, the use of all available means to reduce contrast during the procedure, and the implementation of modern strategies such as radial access and drug-eluting stents. At the end of the procedure, personalized antithrombotic therapy for the patient’s specific characteristics is advisable to account for the elevated ischemic and bleeding risk of these patients. Full article

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is common among older adults. Amidst all causes, Fabry disease (FD) should be considered when LVH occurs with family history, specific clinical manifestations, or cardiac alert signs. Here, we report a case of a 76-year-old male who presented late onset concentric LVH with symptomatic high-grade atrioventricular (AV) block. After dual-chamber pacemaker implantation, interrogation revealed frequent right ventricular (RV) pacing with a wide QRS duration. The patient developed heart failure symptoms with rapid deterioration of LV systolic function. Pacing-induced cardiomyopathy (PICM) was suspected, and the pacemaker was upgraded to biventricular pacing. Further FD surveys were performed, including biochemical examinations, cardiac biopsies, and genetic sequencing, and the patient was ultimately diagnosed with a cardiac variant of FD. Particularly, we strongly suggest that physiologic pacing should be initially considered for patients with FD who have symptomatic high-grade AV block, rather than traditional RV pacing to prevent PICM. Full article