Survival rates for patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) have improved with the introduction of PAH-specific therapies. However, the time between patient-reported onset of symptoms and a definitive diagnosis of IPAH is consistently delayed. We conducted a retrospective, multi-center, descriptive investigation in order to (a) understand what factors contribute to persistent diagnostic delays, and (b) examine the time from initial symptom onset to a definitive diagnosis of IPAH. Between January 2007 and December 2008, we enrolled consecutively diagnosed adults with IPAH from four tertiary referral centers in Australia. Screening of patient records and “one-on-one” interviews were used to determine the time from patient-described initial symptoms to a diagnosis of IPAH, confirmed by right heart catheterization (RHC). Thirty-two participants (69% female) were studied. Mean age at symptom onset was 56 ± 16.4 years and 96% reported exertional dyspnea. Mean time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 47 ± 34 months with patients subsequently aged 60 ± 17.3 years. Patients reported 5.3 ± 3.8 GP visits and 3.0 ± 2.1 specialist reviews before being seen at a pulmonary hypertension (PH) center. Advanced age, number of general practitioner (GP) visits, heart rate, and systolic blood pressure at the time of diagnosis were significantly associated with the observed delay. We found a significant delay of 3.9 years from symptom onset to a diagnosis of IPAH in Australia. Exertional dyspnea is the most common presenting symptom. Current practice within Australia does not appear to have the specific capacity for timely, multi-factorial evaluation of breathlessness and potential IPAH.

Recent evidence supports a role for the gut microbiota in hypertension, but whether ambulatory blood pressure is associated with gut microbiota and their metabolites remains unclear. We characterized the function of the gut microbiota, their metabolites and receptors in untreated human hypertensive participants in Australian metropolitan and regional areas. Ambulatory blood pressure, fecal microbiome predicted from 16S rRNA gene sequencing, plasma and fecal metabolites called short-chain fatty acid, and expression of their receptors were analyzed in 70 untreated and otherwise healthy participants from metropolitan and regional communities. Most normotensives were female (66%) compared with hypertensives (35%, P <0.01), but there was no difference in age between the groups (59.2±7.7 versus 60.3±6.6 years old). Based on machine learning multivariate covariance analyses of de-noised amplicon sequence variant prevalence data, we determined that there were no significant differences in predicted gut microbiome α- and β-diversity metrics between normotensives versus essential or masked hypertensives. However, select taxa were specific to these groups, notably Acidaminococcus spp ., Eubacterium fissicatena, and Muribaculaceae were higher, while Ruminococcus and Eubacterium eligens were lower in hypertensives. Importantly, normotensive and essential hypertensive cohorts could be differentiated based on gut microbiome gene pathways and metabolites. Specifically, hypertensive participants exhibited higher plasma acetate and butyrate, but their immune cells expressed reduced levels of short-chain fatty acid-activated GPR43 (G-protein coupled receptor 43). In conclusion, gut microbial diversity did not change in essential hypertension, but we observed a significant shift in microbial gene pathways. Hypertensive subjects had lower levels of GPR43, putatively blunting their response to blood pressure-lowering metabolites.

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BackgroundComprehensive epidemiological data to describe the burden of heart failure (HF) in Australia remain lacking despite its importance as a major health issue. Herewith, we estimate the current and future burden of HF in Australia using best available data.MethodsAustralian-specific and the most congruent international epidemiological and health utilisation data were applied to the Australian population (adults aged ≥ 45 years, 8.9 of 22.7 million total population in 2014) on an age and sex-specific basis. We estimated the current incident and prevalent cases of clinically overt/symptomatic HF (predominately those with reduced ejection fraction), hospital activity (diagnosis of HF as a primary or secondary reason for admission) and health care costs in 2014 and future prevalence and burden of HF projected to 2030.ResultsWe estimated that over 61,000 (6.9 per 1000 person-years) adult Australians aged ≥ 45 years (58 % women) are diagnosed with HF with clinically overt signs and symptoms every year. On a conservative basis, 480,000 (6.3 %, 95 % CI 2.6 to 10.0 %) Australians (66 % men) are now affected by the syndrome with > 150,000 hospitalisations in excess of 1 million days in hospital per annum. The annual cost of managing HF in the community is approximately $900 million and nearly $2.7 billion ($1.5 versus $1.2 billion, men versus women) when considering the additional cost of in-patient care. We predict that the prevalence and future burden of HF will continue to increase over the next 10–15 years to nearly 750,000 people with an estimated annual health care cost of $3.8 billion.ConclusionsAustralia is not immune to the growing magnitude and implications of a sustained epidemic of HF in an ageing population. However, its public health and economic burden will remain ill-defined until more definitive Australian-specific data are generated.

In the absence of a single definitive trial, we conducted 3 contiguous trials examining the benefits of the same model Background-We sought to determine the overall impact of a nurse-led, multidisciplinary home-based intervention (HBI) adapted to hospitalized patients with chronic forms of heart disease of varying types. Methods and Results-Prospectively planned, combined, secondary analysis of 3 randomized trials (1226 patients) of HBI were compared with standard management. Hospitalized patients presenting with heart disease but not heart failure, atrial fibrillation but not heart failure, and heart failure, as well, were recruited. Overall, 612 and 614 patients, respectively, were allocated to a home visit 7 to 14 days postdischarge by a cardiac nurse with follow-up and multidisciplinary support according to clinical need or standard management. The primary outcome of days-alive and out-of-hospital was examined on an intention-totreat basis. 011).Analyses of the differential impact of HBI on all-cause mortality showed significant interactions (characterized by U-shaped relationships) with age (P=0.005) and comorbidity (P=0.041); HBI was most effective for those aged 60 to 82 years (59%-65% of individual trial cohorts) and with a Charlson Comorbidity Index Score of 5 to 8 (36%-61%). Conclusions-These data provide further support for the application of postdischarge HBI across the full spectrum of patients being hospitalized for chronic forms of heart disease. Clinical Trial Registration-URL: http://www.anzctr.org.au.