1. Improving usual care after sudden death in the young with focus on inherited cardiac diseases (the CAREFUL study): a community-based intervention study
- Author
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Marieke T. Blom, Balthasar Schaap, Hanno L. Tan, Irene M. van Langen, Pieter A. Doevendans, Henk van Weert, Wendy Bruins, Tatjana Naujocks, Michiel L. Bots, C. (Kees) Das, Christian van der Werf, Jan A. Ten Bosch, Arthur A.M. Wilde, Ronald de Vos, Aryan Vink, Rudolph W. Koster, Anneke Hendrix, Erwin Birnie, Abdennasser Bardai, Frits Woonink, Arend Mosterd, Philip de Vries, Cardiology, Other departments, General practice, Reproductive Origins of Adult Health and Disease (ROAHD), and Health Psychology Research (HPR)
- Subjects
Male ,Pediatrics ,Heredity ,Epidemiology ,NETHERLANDS ,Psychological intervention ,Disease ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Sudden cardiac death ,0302 clinical medicine ,Risk Factors ,Cause of Death ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Community Health Services ,Young adult ,Child ,Non-U.S. Gov't ,Referral and Consultation ,Cause of death ,ARREST ,Sudden death ,Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ,Quality Improvement ,Pedigree ,FAMILY-MEMBERS ,Sudden unexplained death syndrome ,Phenotype ,CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Autopsy ,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine ,Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Referral ,Adolescent ,Heart Diseases ,UNITED-STATES ,DIAGNOSIS ,Research Support ,Risk Assessment ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,Predictive Value of Tests ,Physiology (medical) ,medicine ,MANAGEMENT ,Genetics ,Journal Article ,Humans ,Genetic Predisposition to Disease ,Family ,Genetic Testing ,Quality Indicators, Health Care ,business.industry ,Prevention ,Infant ,Patient Acceptance of Health Care ,NATIONWIDE ,medicine.disease ,VICTIMS ,Death, Sudden, Cardiac ,ARRHYTHMIA SYNDROMES ,business - Abstract
AIMS: Inherited cardiac diseases play an important role in sudden death (SD) in the young. Autopsy and cardiogenetic evaluation of relatives of young SD victims identifies relatives at risk. We studied the usual care after SD in the young aimed at identifying inherited cardiac disease, and assessed the efficacy of two interventions to improve this usual care.METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a community-based intervention study to increase autopsy rates of young SD victims aged 1-44 years and referral of their relatives to cardiogenetic clinics. In the Amsterdam study region, a 24/7 central telephone number and a website were available to inform general practitioners and coroners. In the Utrecht study region, they were informed by a letter and educational meetings. In two control regions usual care was monitored. Autopsy was performed in 169 of 390 registered SD cases (43.3%). Cardiogenetic evaluation of relatives was indicated in 296 of 390 cases (75.9%), but only 25 of 296 families (8.4%) attended a cardiogenetics clinic. Autopsy rates were 38.7% in the Amsterdam study region, 45.5% in the Utrecht study region, and 49.0% in the control regions. The proportion of families evaluated at cardiogenetics clinics in the Amsterdam study region, the Utrecht study region, and the control regions was 7.3, 9.9, and 8.8%, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: The autopsy rate in young SD cases in the Netherlands is low and few families undergo cardiogenetic evaluation to detect inherited cardiac diseases. Two different interventions did not improve this suboptimal situation substantially.
- Published
- 2016
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