Heart failure in the Veneto region of Italy: analysis of therapeutic pathways and the utilization of healthcare resources. (2nd September 2020) - Degli Esposti, Luca
ABSTRACT: Objectives : Aim of the study was to describe the use and pharmacoutilization profiles of recommended drugs for HF patients, hospital re-admission rates, mortality rates and determine healthcare resource consumption and related costs for HF patients in an Italian region. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed data from the administrative database and included adult patients who were discharged alive with a primary or secondary HF diagnosis between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015. We assessed data on HF-related drug prescriptions at discharge and during a 12-month follow-up period, as well as treatment adherence and treatment modification. All-cause mortality, hospital HF re-admission, and mean direct cost per patient were also analyzed during the follow-up period. Results : A total of 69, 164 patients were included. One in ten patients had discontinued all treatment initially prescribed by the end of follow-up. In total, 25.9% of patients were re-hospitalized with an HF diagnosis during the follow-up period; the mortality rate at 12 months was 24.3%. The mean annual cost per patient was €6, 303.7, with nearly three-fourths attributable to hospitalizations. Conclusions : In our study, we observed an under-prescription of recommended drugs for the treatment of HF. Moreover, one out of four HF patients were re-hospitalized for HF-related causes and the healthcare costs related to hospitalization accounted for the great majority of the total healthcare resource costs.