Patients after acute decompensation of Heart Failure: adherence to self-monitoring and treatment depending on the mode of outpatient monitoring

Aim To evaluate compliance with self-monitoring and drug and non-drug treatment of patients after ADHF during the management at a specialized center for CHF treatment (CCHF) or in real-life clinical practice. Material and methods   The study included 942 CHF patients after ADHF. In two years, the entire sample of patients was retrospectively divided into 4 groups based on their compliance with the management at the CCHF: group 1, 313 patients who were managed at the CCHF continuously for two years; group 2, 383 patients who choose the management at district outpatient clinics after discharge from a hospital; group 3, 197 patients who visited the CCHF for one year but then stopped the management; and group 4, 49 patients who initially preferred the management at district clinics but then switched to constant management at the CCHF. Compliance with recommendations was analyzed by data of outpatient clinical records or by data of structured telephone calls for patients who did not visit the CCHF or did not follow the visit schedule. Statistics was performed with a Statistica 7.0 for Windows software package. Results Patients of groups 2 (72.4 %) and 3 (88.3 %) performed self-monitoring less frequently whereas patients of groups 1 (94.6 %) and 4 (87.8 %) performed self-monitoring more frequently (р 1 / 3 =0.01, р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 4 =0.07, р 2 / 4 =0.02, р 2 / 3 <0.001, р 4 / 3 =0.9). Patients of group 2 (58.1 %) performed self-monitoring of heart rate less frequently than patients of groups 1, 3, and 4 (90.7 %, 81.7 %, and 87.8 %; р 1 / 3 =0.003, р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 4 =0.5, р 2 / 4 <0.001, р 2 / 3 <0.001, and р 4 / 3 =0.3). Patients of group 2 performed body weight self-monitoring less frequently than patients of groups 1, 3, and 4 (78.6 %, 67.9 %, and 72.9 %; р 1 / 3 =0.008, р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 4 =0.4, р 2 / 4 =0.002, р 2 / 3 <0.001, and р 4 / 3 =0.5). Compliance with the diet and restriction of salt consumption was 32.3 % and 37.5 % in groups 1 and 4, and 24.9 % and 19.9 % in groups 2 and 3 (р 1 / 3 =0.002, р 1 / 2 =0.03, р 1 / 4 =0.5, р 2 / 4 =0.02, р 2 / 3 =0.2, and р 4 / 3 =0.009). Compliance with recommendations on physical rehabilitation was 44.7% in group 1, which was better than in groups 2, 3, and 4 (8.2 %, 21.6 %, and 9.1 %; р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 3 =0.0003, р 1 / 4 =0.002, р 2 / 4 =0.9, р 2 / 3 =0.0006, and р 4 / 3 =0.2). At the end of the second year of follow-up, the actual proportion of patients taking ACE inhibitors/angiotensin receptor antagonists was low in groups 2, 3, and 4 (43.2 %, 45 %, and 66.7 %) and satisfactory in group 1 (92.4 %; р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 3 <0.001, р 1 / 4 <0.001, р 2 / 3 =0.6, р 2 / 4 =0.05, and р 3 / 4 =0.05). Proportion of patients taking beta-blockers was greater in group 1 (97.2 %) than in groups 2, 3. and 4 (73.2 %, 71.1 %, and 90.5 %; р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 3 <0.001, р 1 / 4 =00.08, р 2 / 3 =0.6, р 2 / 4 =0.1, and р 3 / 4 =0.06). Patients of group 1 (96.2 %) showed good compliance with the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment compared to groups 2, 3, and 4 (58.8 %, 55.4 %, and 81.2 %; р 1 / 2 <0.001, р 1 / 3 <0.001, р 1 / 4 <0.001, р 2 / 3 =0.5, р 2 / 4 =0.1, and р 3 / 4 =0. Conclusion Only scheduled management by a cardiologist of the specialized CCHF provided sufficient compliance with self-monitoring and drug and non-drug treatment of CHF during the long-term follow-up.