Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the differences according to age in the clinical profile and management of outpatients with chronic ischemic heart disease attended by cardiologists in Spain.
Methods: Patients with an established diagnosis of chronic ischemic heart disease were included in this cross-sectional multicenter study. The age of 65 years was considered as the cut-off point for the present analysis.
Results: A total of 1038 subjects were included, 524 of them (50.5%) >65 years. Patients >65 years had a lesser prevalence of smoking, a longer history of hypertension, a worse left ventricular ejection fraction and a higher prevalence of heart failure and renal insufficiency than younger subjects. The number of prescribed drugs was higher in patients >65 years (6.1+/-1.9 vs 5.7+/-2.1, p=0.004). Blood pressure control rate was lower in older patients (38.1% vs 46.5%, p=0.008). No significant differences were found either in LDL-cholesterol (42.4% vs 46.5%), or glycemic control rates (42.4% vs 41.4%), both p=NS. Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures were also compared in >65 vs < or =65 years, exercise test was performed in 51.5% vs 62.8% (p<0.0001); stress echocardiography in 18.3% vs 13.2% (p=0.027); coronary angiography in 38.6% vs 53.5% (p<0.0001); and coronary revascularization in 37.2% vs 46.9% (p=0.002), without significant differences in electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, or isotopic exams.
Conclusions: Older patients exhibited a worse clinical profile and a worse blood pressure control rate than the younger. However, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures appear to be frequently underused in the old patients.
Copyright 2010 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.