Early heart procedures do not improve long-term survival in stable heart disease

Patients with stable heart disease and abnormal stress tests who have invasive procedures early in their care do not live longer than those initially treated with drugs and lifestyle changes alone, an international study shows.

Judith S. Hochman, MD, study co-lead author and ISCHEMIA chair, the Harold Snyder Family Professor of Cardiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Department of MedicineOur analyses make clear that while managing stable coronary artery disease with early heart procedures helps relieve chest pain and improves quality of life in those with chest pain, it is unlikely to help patients live longer."

The team then kept track of these patients over time using direct contact and national health records to assess survival. They compared the long-term risk of death between the two treatment approaches using statistical analyses.

The study authors are now working to build tools that can help tailor decisions to each patient by combining information on age, disease severity, heart and kidney function, and symptom burden with long-term survival data.

In addition to Drs. Hochman and Anthopolos, NYU Langone researchers involved in the study were Harmony R. Reynolds, MD; Sripal Bangalore, MD; Yifan Xu, MPH; Stephanie Boumakis, MS; Michelle Chang, MPH; Andrea B. Troxel, ScD; Jonathan Newman, MD, MPH; and Jeffrey S. Berger, MD.

Source:

NYU Langone Health

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