Objectives The purpose of this study was to estimate rates and identify predictors of inpatient complications and 30-day readmissions, as well as repeat hospitalization rates for arrhythmia recurrence following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. Background AF is the most common clinically significant arrhythmia and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Radiofrequency or cryotherapy ablation of AF is a relatively new treatment option, and data on post-procedural outcomes in large general populations are limited. Methods Using data from the California State Inpatient Database, we identified all adult patients who underwent their first AF ablation from 2005 to 2008. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify predictors of complications and/or 30-day readmissions and Kaplan-Meier analyses to estimate rates of all-cause and arrhythmia readmissions. Results Among 4,156 patients who underwent an initial AF ablation, 5% had periprocedural complications, most commonly vascular, and 9% were readmitted within 30 days. Older age, female, prior AF hospitalizations, and less hospital experience with AF ablation were associated with higher adjusted risk of complications and/or 30-day readmissions. The rate of all-cause hospitalization was 38.5% by 1 year. The rate of readmission for recurrent AF, atrial flutter, and/or repeat ablation was 21.7% by 1 year and 29.6% by 2 years. Conclusions Periprocedural complications occurred in 1 of 20 patients undergoing AF ablation, and all-cause and arrhythmia-related rehospitalizations were common. Older age, female sex, prior AF hospitalizations, and recent hospital procedure experience were associated with a higher risk of complications and/or 30-day readmission after AF ablation.

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Sacubitril-valsartan may be a cost-effective treatment option depending on the willingness-to-pay threshold. Future investigations should incorporate real-world evidence with sacubitril-valsartan to further inform decision making.

Recognition of ischemic heart disease (IHD) is often delayed or deferred in women. Thus, many at risk for adverse outcomes are not provided specific diagnostic, preventive, and/or treatment strategies. This lack of recognition is related to sex-specific IHD pathophysiology that differs from traditional models using data from men with flow-limiting coronary artery disease (CAD) obstructions. Symptomatic women are less likely to have obstructive CAD than men with similar symptoms, and tend to have coronary microvascular dysfunction, plaque erosion, and thrombus formation. Emerging data document that more extensive, nonobstructive CAD involvement, hypertension, and diabetes are associated with major adverse events similar to those with obstructive CAD. A central emerging paradigm is the concept of nonobstructive CAD as a cause of IHD and related adverse outcomes among women. This position paper summarizes currently available knowledge and gaps in that knowledge, and recommends management options that could be useful until additional evidence emerges.

Genotype-guided personalization may improve the cost-effectiveness of prasugrel and ticagrelor after percutaneous coronary intervention for ACS, but ticagrelor for all patients may bean economically reasonable alternative in some settings.

Background-Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) seems to improve the survival and quality of life of patients with aortic stenosis ineligible for surgical aortic valve replacement. Methods and Results-We used a decision analytic Markov model to estimate lifetime costs and benefits in a hypothetical cohort of patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis who were ineligible for surgical aortic valve replacement.The model compared transfemoral TAVR with medical management and was calibrated to the Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves (PARTNER) trial. TAVR increased life expectancy from 2.08 to 2.93 years and quality-adjusted life expectancy from 1.19 to 1.93 years. TAVR also reduced subsequent hospitalizations by 1.40 but increased complications, particularly stroke (from 1% to 11% lifetime risk), and also increased lifetime costs from $83 600 to $1 69 100. The incremental cost-effectiveness of TAVR was $1 16 500 per quality-adjusted life-year gained ($99 900 per life-year gained).Results were robust to reasonable changes in individual variables but were sensitive to the level of annual healthcare costs caused by noncardiac diseases and to the projected life expectancy of medically treated patients. Conclusions-TAVR seems to be an effective but somewhat expensive alternative to medical management among patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis ineligible for surgery. TAVR is more cost-effective for patients with a lower burden of noncardiac disease.

Hospital survivors of AMI who had cardiogenic shock have a higher risk of death and/or hospitalization during the first year after discharge. The risk is time-dependent and is clustered in the early post-discharge period, after which the prognosis is similar in patients with and without cardiogenic shock.

Key Points Question Can a natural language processing approach that uses text from clinical notes identify bleeding events among critically ill patients? Findings In this diagnostic study of a rules-based natural language processing model to identify bleeding events using clinical notes, the model was superior to a machine learning approach, with high sensitivity and negative predictive value. The extra trees machine learning model had high sensitivity but poor positive predictive value. Meaning Bleeding complications can be detected with a high-throughput natural language processing algorithm, an approach that can be used for quality improvement and prevention programs.