State Health Department Releases Report On Angioplasty Outcomes

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 03 Apr 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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The New York State Department of Health released a comprehensive report summarizing risk factors and outcomes for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in New York State. Commonly referred to as "angioplasty" or "coronary stenting," PCI is a procedure used to clear blocked coronary arteries.

"Percutaneous Coronary Interventions in New York State, 2003-2005," reports on the outcomes of 159,839 patients undergoing PCI and discharged between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2005 at the 50 New York State hospitals where this procedure is performed. In 2005, the latest year for which data are available, there were 56,058 cases with an overall in-hospital/30-day mortality rate of 0.88 percent.

The report also includes information on non-emergency patients (those who are not in shock, do not have a very low blood pressure and who have not had a heart attack within 24 hours before the procedure) as a separate subset. Among this group of 49,692 non-emergency patients discharged in 2005, the in-hospital/ 30-day mortality rate was 0.60 percent.

Risk-adjusted mortality rates are published for hospitals and physicians performing this procedure.

The report's primary source of data is the New York State Percutaneous Coronary Interventions Reporting System. This system gathers information on each patient's demographic and clinical characteristics, information about the procedure performed and the outcomes for that patient. Data collection and analysis is conducted under the guidance of the New York State Cardiac Advisory Committee, which is comprised of nationally prominent cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and other medical specialists.

In this report, for the first time, all analyses use the outcome of in-hospital/30-day mortality. Mortalities include any death occurring in the same hospital stay in which a patient underwent PCI and any death that occurs after hospital discharge but within 30 days of the PCI.

"PCIs are among the most common procedures performed in the United States," said Dr. Edward Hannan of the School for Public Health at the University at Albany, a member of the Cardiac Advisory Committee. "We are confident that New York's annual releases of PCI outcomes contribute to and will continue to improve the excellent quality with which PCIs are being performed in the state."

New York has taken a leadership role in setting standards for cardiac services, monitoring outcomes, and sharing performance data with patients, hospitals, and physicians. Hospitals and doctors involved in the care of cardiac patients have worked in cooperation with the Department of Health and its Cardiac Advisory Committee to compile accurate and meaningful data for use in enhancing quality of care.

New York was the first state in the nation to make publicly available the information contained in this report and has been releasing its reports for more than 10 years. PCI has become a much more common procedure during that time. In 1995 there were 21,707 cases, compared to 56,058 in 2005. At the same time the mortality rates associated with this procedure have dropped substantially. The in-hospital mortality rate for angioplasty patients in 1995 was 1.86 percent, compared to 0.52 percent in 2005.

As part of the reporting system, hospitals have the ability to track their own data and compare their experience to statewide outcomes.

The report can be obtained on the Department's website.

New York State Department of Health