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Background Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, little is known about the association of diabetes mellitus with post-AMI health status outcomes (symptoms, functioning, and quality of life) in younger adults. Methods and Results We investigated the association between diabetes mellitus and health status during the first 12 months after AMI, using data from 3501 adults with AMI (42.6% with diabetes mellitus) aged 18 to 55 years enrolled in the VIRGO (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients) study. Health status was measured with Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ), 12-item Short-Form Health Survey, and EuroQol-Visual Analogue Scale at baseline hospitalization, 1-month, and 12-months post-AMI. At baseline, patients with diabetes mellitus had significantly worse SAQ-angina frequency (81±22 versus 86±19), SAQ-physical limitations (77±28 versus 85±23), SAQ-quality of life (55±25 versus 57±23), 12-item Short-Form Health Survey mental (44±13 versus 46±12)/physical functioning (41±12 versus 46±12), and EuroQol-Visual Analogue Scale (61±22 versus 66±21) than those without diabetes mellitus. Over time, both groups (with and without diabetes mellitus) improved considerably and the differences in health status scores progressively narrowed (except for 12-item Short-Form Health Survey physical functioning). In the linear-mixed effects models, adjusted for sociodemographics, cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities, clinical characteristics, psychosocial factors, healthcare use, and AMI treatment, diabetes mellitus was associated with worse health status at baseline but not after discharge, and the association did not vary by sex. Conclusions At baseline, young adults with diabetes mellitus had poorer health status than those without diabetes mellitus. After AMI, however, they experienced significant improvements and diabetes mellitus was not associated with worse angina, SAQ-physical limitations, mental functioning, and quality of life, after adjustment for baseline covariates. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT00597922.

Background: We examined sex differences in long-term health outcomes following acute myocardial infarction in China, including mortality, major adverse cardiac events and health status (symptoms, functioning, quality of life)., Methods: A total of 3415 acute myocardial infarction patients (23.2% women) aged ⩾18 years were enrolled across 10 geographic regions in China (2012-2014) in the China Patient-Centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events (PEACE) study. Clinical data was abstracted from medical records. Generic (Euro-Quality of Life Scale) and disease-specific (Seattle Angina Questionnaire) health status was obtained through interviews at baseline and one year., Results: At one year, women with acute myocardial infarction had a higher risk of death from all causes ( p<0.001), but had similar rates of major adverse cardiac events ( p=0.2). Women had lower mean generic (Euro-Quality of Life Scale utility index score: 0.90±0.13 vs 0.94±0.11) and disease specific health scores indicating poorer functioning (Seattle Angina Questionnaire summary score: 75.3±11.4 vs 78.4±9.7) and higher rates of daily/weekly angina (Seattle Angina Questionnaire angina frequency score ⩽60 vs >60: 9.1% vs 4.7%; all p<0.001). In multivariable analysis, there was a significant association between female sex and mortality (β=0.45, standard error=0.21, p=0.03) but not for major adverse cardiac events (β=-0.02, standard error=0.14, p=0.89). The association between female sex and worse generic health status persisted (β=-0.02, standard error=0.01, p=0.003), but was no longer significant between sexes for disease-specific health status (β=-0.82, standard error=0.58, p=0.154) or daily/weekly angina (odds ratio=1.39; 95% confidence interval 0.88-2.21)., Conclusion: Women in China have higher crude rates of all-cause/cardiovascular death versus men, as well as worse generic/disease specific health status at one-year post-acute myocardial infarction. The association between female sex and worse generic health status persisted following adjustment.

Background and Aims: While high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a marker of inflammation and higher cardiovascular risk, its association with health status (symptoms, function and quality of life) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is unknown., Methods: Among 3410 patients with AMI from the TRIUMPH (N = 1301) and VIRGO (N = 2109) studies, we compared 1-year generic (Medical Outcome Study Short Form-12 and Euro Quality of Life Visual Analog Scale) and disease-specific (Seattle Angina Questionnaire) health status outcomes in those with hs-CRP ≥2 mg/L vs. <2 mg/L. In hierarchical linear regression models, we examined the association of 30-day hs-CRP levels with 1-year health status without adjustment, after adjusting for 30-day health status, and after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, disease severity/comorbidities and treatment characteristics., Results: The median (25th, 75th percentiles) 30-day hs-CRP was 2.6 (1.1, 6.1) mg/L and 59% had hs-CRP ≥2 mg/L. Statin therapy was used in 92% of patients at hospital discharge. Thirty-day hs-CRP ≥2 mg/L was inversely associated with all 1-year health status measures in unadjusted and partially adjusted models, but not in fully-adjusted models. Results were similar when hs-CRP was analyzed as a continuous variable., Conclusions: While elevated hs-CRP 30 days after AMI was associated with worse health status in unadjusted analyses, this was not significant after adjusting for comorbidities, suggesting that hs-CRP may be a marker of comorbidities associated with worse health status. Whether reducing inflammation in AMI patients will improve health status should be tested in ongoing trials., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Interpreting the clinical significance of changes in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is critically important. The most commonly used approach is to anchor mean changes on PRO scores against a global assessment of change. Whether the assessor of global change should be patients or their physicians is unknown. We compared patients' and physicians' assessments of change over time to examine which was more aligned with patients' changes in PRO measures., Methods: A total of 459 chronic heart failure patients aged >30 years were enrolled from 13 US centers. Data were obtained by medical record abstraction, physical assessments, and patient interviews at a baseline clinic visit and 6 weeks later. Health status was measured with the disease-specific Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), and both patients and physicians completed a validated 15-level global assessment of change, ranging from large deterioration to large improvement., Results: There was substantial variation between physicians/patients' global assessment of clinical change (weighted kappa = 0.36, 95 % CI 0.28, 0.43). Overall, physician assessments were more strongly correlated with change on the KCCQ summary score than were patients' assessments (physician R = 0.37, patient R = 0.29)., Conclusion: There was substantial variation between patients' and physicians' global assessment of 6-week change in heart failure status. Physician assessments of the importance of clinical changes were more strongly associated with changes in all domains of patient-reported health status, as assessed by the KCCQ, and may provide a more consistent method for defining the clinical importance of changes in patients' health status.

Background: Despite the excess risk of mortality in young women (≤55 years of age) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), little is known about young women's health status (symptoms, functioning, quality of life) during the first year of recovery after an AMI. We examined gender differences in health status over time from baseline to 12 months after AMI., Methods and Results: A total of 3501 AMI patients (67% women) 18 to 55 years of age were enrolled from 103 US and 24 Spanish hospitals. Data were obtained by medical record abstraction and patient interviews at baseline hospitalization and 1 and 12 months after AMI. Health status was measured by generic (Short Form-12) and disease-specific (Seattle Angina Questionnaire) measures. We compared health status scores at all 3 time points and used longitudinal linear mixed-effects analyses to examine the independent effect of gender, adjusting for time and selected covariates. Women had significantly lower health status scores than men at each assessment (all P values <0.0001). After adjustment for time and all covariates, women had Short Form-12 physical/mental summary scores that were -0.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], -1.59 to -0.32) and -2.36 points (95% CI, -2.99 to -1.73) lower than those of men, as well as worse Seattle Angina Questionnaire physical limitations (-2.44 points lower; 95% CI, -3.53 to -1.34), more angina (-1.03 points lower; 95% CI, -1.98 to -0.07), and poorer quality of life (-3.51 points lower; 95% CI, -4.80 to -2.22)., Conclusion: Although both genders recover similarly after AMI, women have poorer scores than men on all health status measures, a difference that persisted throughout the entire year after discharge., (© 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.)

Background: Few studies have examined gender differences in health status and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). This study assessed (1) self-reported health status at PAD diagnosis and 12-months later, and explored (2) whether outcomes in women with PAD differ with regard to long-term major adverse events., Methods and Results: A total of 816 patients (285 women) with PAD were enrolled from 2 vascular clinics in the Netherlands. Baseline clinical data and subsequent adverse events were recorded and patients completed the Short Form-12 (SF-12, Physical Component Score [PCS] and Mental Component Score [MCS]) upon PAD diagnosis and 12-months later. Women had similar ages and clinical characteristics, but poorer socio-economic status and more depressive symptoms at initial diagnosis, as compared with men. Women also had poorer physical (PCS: 37±10 versus 40±10, P=0.004) and mental (, Mcs: 47±12 versus 49±11, P=0.005) health status at the time of presentation. At 12-months, women still reported a poorer overall PCS score (41±12 versus 46±11, P=0.006) and MCS score (42±14 versus 49±12, P=0.002). Female gender was an independent determinant of a poorer baseline and 12-month PCS and MCS scores. However, there were no significant differences by gender on either mortality (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR]=0.93, 95% CI 0.60;1.44, P=0.74) or major adverse events (unadjusted HR=0.90, 95% CI 0.63;1.29, P=0.57), after a median follow-up of 3.2 years., Conclusions: Women's physical and mental health status is compromised both at initial PAD diagnosis and at 12-month follow-up, despite experiencing a similar magnitude of change in their health scores throughout the first 12-months after diagnosis., (© 2014 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.)

Background: Social support is an important predictor of health outcomes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but social support varies by sex and age. Differences in social support could account for sex differences in outcomes of young patients with AMI., Methods and Results: Data from the Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) study, an observational study of AMI patients aged ≤55 years in the United States and Spain, were used for this study. Patients were categorized as having low versus moderate/high perceived social support using the ENRICHD Social Support Inventory. Outcomes included health status (Short Form-12 physical and mental component scores), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire), and angina-related quality of life (Seattle Angina Questionnaire) evaluated at baseline and 12 months. Among 3432 patients, 21.2% were classified as having low social support. Men and women had comparable levels of social support at baseline. On average, patients with low social support reported lower functional status and quality of life and more depressive symptoms at baseline and 12 months post-AMI. After multivariable adjustment, including baseline health status, low social support was associated with lower mental functioning, lower quality of life, and more depressive symptoms at 12 months (all P<0.001). The relationship between low social support and worse physical functioning was nonsignificant after adjustment (P=0.6). No interactions were observed between social support, sex, or country., Conclusion: Lower social support is associated with worse health status and more depressive symptoms 12 months after AMI in both young men and women. Sex did not modify the effect of social support., (© 2014 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.)