Hospital-level variation in angina and mortality at 1 year after myocardial infarction: insights from the Translational Research Investigating Underlying Disparities in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients' Health Status (TRIUMPH) Registry.
BACKGROUND
Despite calls to expand measurement of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) outcomes to include symptom burden, little has been done to describe hospital-level variation in this patient-centered outcome, or its association with mortality. Understanding the relationship between symptoms and longer-term mortality could inform the importance of these outcomes for monitoring quality of care.


RESULTS
Among 4316 patients with AMI treated at 24 hospitals participating in the Translational Research Investigating Underlying Disparities in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients' Health Status (TRIUMPH) study, we assessed risk-standardized 1-year symptom burden as measured by the Seattle Angina Questionnaire Angina Frequency Score and mortality attributed to the hospital that provided AMI care. Median odds ratios were used to assess outcome variation and reflect the relative odds of an outcome for 2 patients with identical covariates at different, randomly selected, hospitals. We then evaluated the correlation between hospital-level mortality and angina. Finally, we determined the extent to which variation in mortality and angina was explained by achievement of AMI performance measures. We observed hospital variation in risk-adjusted 1-year mortality (range, 4.9%-8.6%; median odds ratio, 1.30; P=0.01) and angina (range, 17.7%-29.4%; median odds ratio, 1.34; P<0.001). At the hospital level, mortality and angina at 1 year were weakly correlated (r=0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.00-0.68; P=0.05). Accounting for the quality of AMI care did not attenuate variation in risk-adjusted 1-year mortality or angina.


CONCLUSIONS
Symptom burden and mortality vary at the hospital level after AMI and are only weakly correlated. These findings suggest that symptom burden should be considered a separate quality domain that is not well captured by current quality metrics.
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.). Rebecca.vigen@phhs.org.
Rebecca
R
Vigen
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
John A
JA
Spertus
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
Thomas M
TM
Maddox
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
P Michael
PM
Ho
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
Philip G
PG
Jones
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
Suzanne V
SV
Arnold
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
Frederick A
FA
Masoudi
From the University of Texas at Southwestern, Dallas (R.V.); Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute/University of Missouri, Kansas City (J.A.S., P.G.J, S.V.A); VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.); and Colorado Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (CCOR) Consortium, Denver (T.M.M., P.M.H., S.M.B.).
Steven M
SM
Bradley
D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013997:Time Factors; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
acute myocardial infarction; health services research; health status