Treatment pathways defined as the sequence of visits to the public health system of patients with cardiomyopathies in...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Public Health
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Cardiomyopathies (CMs) exhibit regional management variations globally.
• Previous studies have not systematically evaluated CM patient clinical pathways.
• Understanding these pathways is crucial for improving patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the clinical management pathway of cardiomyopathy patients in Poland.
• To identify patterns in healthcare utilization for CM patients.

Main Methods:

• Population-based, cross-sectional study utilizing national healthcare data (2016-2021).
• Identified CM patients via ICD10 codes.
• Analyzed healthcare sequences: urgent hospitalization (UH), elective hospitalization (EH), tertiary outpatient medical care (TMC), and general practice (GP).

Main Results:

• Analyzed 65,383 CM patients (mean age 60, 65.4% male).
• Diagnosis occurred late, with 93.4% diagnosed during inpatient stays (68.1% UH, 25.1% EH).
• Overall mortality was 39.8%; 43.9% for single-contact patients and 65.4% for those with Charlson Comorbidity Index ≥ 5.

Conclusions:

• CM diagnosis in Poland is significantly delayed, often occurring during acute exacerbations.
• Late diagnosis negatively impacts prognosis, particularly for patients with high comorbidity burden.
• Urgent improvements in CM diagnosis and management strategies in Poland are necessary.