Clinical profile and management of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease according to age in the population daily attended by cardiologists in Spain The ELDERCIC study.

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.