Pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease largely neglected until a few decades ago, is presently the object of intense studies by several research teams. Despite considerable progress, pulmonary arterial hypertension remains a major clinical problem, because it is not always easy to diagnose, treat, and prevent. The disease was considered incurable until the late 1990s, when Epoprostenol was introduced as the first tool against this illness. More recently, therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension gained momentum after publication of the SERAPHIN and AMBITION trials, which also highlighted the importance of upfront therapy. This review also focuses on recent substudies from these trials and progress in drugs targeting the endothelin pathway. Future perspectives with regard to endothelin-receptor antagonists are also discussed.
Introduction
Aim of this study was to assess the impact of the introduction of new class of drugs (ARNI: angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor) on hospital related costs in a real world cohort of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).
Methods
Seventy-three consecutive patients with CHF and systolic dysfunction eligible for the treatment with ARNIs from the Daunia Heart Failure Registry were enrolled. Incidence of hospitalizations before and after treatment with ARNI, costs for drug and hospitalization for HF were recorded, indexed per year and compared.
Results
Indexed mean number of hospitalizations per year was 0.93 ± 1.70 before and 0.19 ± 0.70 after introduction of ARNI (
p
< 0.001, −80%), 2.26 ± 1.95 before and 0.38 ± 1.2 after ARNI in the subgroup of patients with at least one hospitalization for HF in the year before treatment with ARNI (
p
< 0.001, −83%).
Mean indexed cost for hospitalization was 2067 ± 3715 euros before and 1847 ± 1549 after ARNI (p n.s., −11%); in the subgroup with at least one hospitalization for HF 5175 ± 4345 before and 2311 ± 2308 after ARNI (p < 0.001, −55%). Cost reduction increased with the number of indexed hospitalization per year before ARNI from 11% to 66%.
Conclusion
In a real world scenario, treatment with ARNI is associated with lower indexed rates of hospitalizations and hospitalization related costs. Cost reduction increases with at least one indexed hospitalization for heart failure before treatment with ARNI.
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