METHODS: TRIPLE-A-Stiffness, an international multicentre prospective longitudinal study, enrolled >2000 subjects ≥40 years old at 32 centres from 18 European countries. Of these, 1250 subjects (55% women) were followed for a median of 3.82 (2.81-4.69) years.
FINDINGS: Unadjusted cumulative incidence rates of outcomes according to CAVI stratification were higher in highest stratum (CAVI > 9). Cox regression with adjustment for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors revealed that CAVI was associated with increased cardiovascular morbimortality (HR 1.25 per 1 increase; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.03-1.51) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.37 per 1 increase; 95% CI: 1.10-1.70) risk in subjects ≥60 years. In ROC analyses, CAVI optimal threshold was 9.25 (c-index 0.598; 0.542-0.654) and 8.30 (c-index 0.565; 0.512-0.618) in subjects ≥ or <60 years, respectively, to predict increased CV morbimortality. Finally, age, mean arterial blood pressure, anti-diabetic and lipid-lowering treatment were independent predictors of yearly CAVI progression adjusted for baseline CAVI.
INTERPRETATION: The present study identified additional value for CAVI to predict outcomes after adjustment for CV risk factors, in particular for subjects ≥60 years. CAVI progression may represent a modifiable risk factor by treatments.
FUNDING: International Society of Vascular Health (ISVH) and Fukuda Denshi, Japan.
METHODS: Between 2020-2023, adults hospitalized in the preceding 6-24 months with incident or recurrent CHD were sampled in 14 countries from all 6 World Health Organization regions and invited for a standardized interview and examination. Direct age and sex standardization was used for country-level prevalence estimation.
RESULTS: Overall, 4548 (21.1% female) CHD patients were interviewed a median of 1.05 (interquartile range 0.76-1.45) years after index hospitalization. Among all participants, 24% were obese (40% centrally). Only 38.5% achieved a blood pressure (BP) <130/80 mmHg and 19.2% a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) of <1.4 mmol/l. Of those smoking at hospitalization, 48% persisted at interview. Of those with known diabetes, 56% achieved glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of <7.0%. A further 9.8% had undetected diabetes and 26.9% impaired glucose tolerance. Females were less likely to achieve targets: BP (females 37.4% males 38.6%), LDL-C (females 13.7% males 18.6%) and HbA1c in diabetes (females 47.7% males 57.5%). Overall, just 9.0% (inter-country range 3.8%-20.0%) reported attending cardiac rehabilitation and 1.0% (inter-country range 0.0%-2.4%) achieved the study definition of optimal guideline adherence.
CONCLUSIONS: INTERASPIRE demonstrates inadequate and heterogeneous international implementation of guideline standards for secondary prevention in the first year after CHD hospitalization, with geographic and sex disparity. Investment aimed at reducing between-country and between-individual variability in secondary prevention will promote equity in global efforts to reduce the burden of CHD.