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Impact of combination medical therapy on mortality in vascular surgery patients
Author(s) -
Barrett Thomas W.,
Newton Kathleen,
Koudelka Caroline,
Mori Motomi,
Radcliffe LeAnn
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.1002/jhm.614
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , relative risk , perioperative , number needed to treat , aspirin , propensity score matching , retrospective cohort study , number needed to harm , surgery
Abstract BACKGROUND: Th use of beta‐blockers or statins has been associated with decreased mortality after noncardiac surgery. There are no prior perioperative studies of concurrent use of other cardioprotective drugs. OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether combinations of aspirin, beta‐blockers, statins, and/or angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were associated with decreased mortality 6 months after vascular surgery. PATIENTS AND DESIGN: We performed a retrospective cohort study on the 3020 patients who underwent vascular surgery between January 1998 and March 2005 at 5 regional Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. The Cochran‐Mantel‐Haenszel test was used to assess associations with 6‐month all‐cause mortality for the combination drug exposures compared to no exposure while adjusting for propensity score. RESULTS: Exposure to all 4 of the study drugs compared to none had a propensity‐adjusted relative risk (aRR) of 0.52 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26‐1.01; P = 0.052), number needed to treat (NNT) 19; 3 drugs vs. none, aRR 0.60 (95% CI, 0.38‐0.95; P = 0.030), NNT 38; 2 drugs vs. none, aRR 0.68 (95% CI, 0.46‐0.99; P = 0.043), NNT 170; and 1 drug vs. none, aRR 0.88 (95% CI, 0.63‐1.22; P = 0.445). ACE inhibitor exposure was common in all combinations. CONCLUSIONS: Combination use of 2 to 3 study drugs, some of which included ACE inhibitors, was associated with decreased mortality after vascular surgery. Combination use of all 4 study drugs was not statistically significant due to the small number of events in this group. Further prospective studies of combination perioperative aspirin, beta‐blockers, statins, and ACE inhibitors are warranted. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2010;5:218–225. © 2010 Society of Hospital Medicine.