Salman Ahmad, Iftikhar Hussain, Asim Iqbal, Gulshan Ahmad, Muhammad Suleman Khan, Khurram Shahzad.
Frequency of Implementation of Guideline Recommended Effective Secondary Prevention Drug Therapy After Myocardial Infarction and its Impact on Re-Hospitalization.
J Cardiovascular Dis Jan ;15(4):95-8.

The use of medications like beta-blocker, a lipid lowering agent, an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker, and antiplatelets have been estimated to decrease the coronary heart disease related events according to guideline recommendations.The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of implementation of secondary prevention drug therapy (antiplatelets, ACE inhibitor, ?-blockers and statins) after Myocardial infarction and to compare the frequency of re-hospitalization at 1 month in patients with and without implementation of guideline recommended secondary prevention drug therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted this study in Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore from Feb 25, 2016 to Aug 25, 2016.One hundred and forty patients having diagnosis of myocardial infarction were evaluated for their discharge medicines according to guidelines as per operational definition. Patients were then followed for one month and interviewed regarding re-hospitalization through outpatient department visits and/or telephone contact. RESULTS: A total of 140 patients were studied. Mean age of the study group was 54.72+-9.87 years. Frequency of implementation of secondary prevention drug therapy for secondary prevention of myocardial infarction as recommended by guidelines was recorded as 60.71%(n=85), comparison of frequency of re-hospitalization at 1 month in patients with and without implementation of guideline recommended secondary prevention drug therapy showed that out of 85 cases of implemented guidelines 5.88%(n=5) were re-hospitalized while out of 55 cases with non-implementation of guidelines 12.73%(n=7) were re-hospitalized, p value was calculated as 0.21 showing in-significant difference. CONCLUSION: The frequency of implementation of secondary prevention drug therapy of myocardial infarction as recommended by guidelines needs to be improved which will further be helpful for reduction in re-hospitalization after discharge from the hospital and will lead to improvement in clinical practice in the field of cardiology.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com