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Background: The HEART score is a simple and effective tool to predict short-term major adverse cardiovascular events in patients suspected of acute coronary syndrome. Patients are assigned to three risk categories using History, ECG, Age, Risk factors and Troponin (HEART). The purpose is early rule out and discharge is considered safe for patients in the low risk category. Its performance in patients of Asian ethnicity is unknown. We evaluated the performance of the HEART score in patients of Caucasian, Chinese, Indian and Malay ethnicity., Methods: The HEART score was assessed retrospectively in 3456 patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected acute coronary syndrome (1791 Caucasians, 1059 Chinese, 344 Indians, 262 Malays), assigning them into three risk categories., Results: The incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events within six weeks after presentation was similar between the ethnic groups. A smaller proportion of Caucasians was in the low risk category compared with Asians (Caucasians 35.8%, Chinese 43.5%, Indians 45.3%, Malays 44.7%, p<0.001). The negative predictive value of a low HEART score was comparable across the ethnic groups, but lower than previously reported (Caucasians 95.3%, Chinese 95.0%, Indians 96.2%, Malays 96.6%). Also the c-statistic for the HEART score was not significantly different between the groups., Conclusions: These results show that the overall performance of the HEART score is equal among Caucasian and Asian ethnic groups. The event rate in the low risk group, however, was higher than reported in previous studies, which queries the safety of early discharge of patients in the low risk category.

Background: QRS duration (QRSd) criteria for device therapy in heart failure (HF) were derived from predominantly white populations and ethnic differences are poorly understood., Methods: We compared the association of QRSd with ejection fraction (EF) and outcomes between 839 Singaporean Asian and 11 221 Swedish white patients with HF having preserved EF (HFPEF)and HF having reduced EF (HFREF) were followed in prospective population-based HF studies., Results: Compared with whites, Asian patients with HF were younger (62 vs 74 years, p<0.001), had smaller body size (height 163 vs 171 cm, weight 70 vs 80 kg, both p<0.001) and had more severely impaired EF (EF was <30% in 47% of Asians vs 28% of whites). Overall, unadjusted QRSd was shorter in Asians than whites (101 vs 104 ms, p<0.001). Lower EF was associated with longer QRSd (p<0.001), with a steeper association among Asians than whites (pinteraction<0.001), independent of age, sex and clinical covariates (including body size). Excluding patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB) and adjusting for clinical covariates, QRSd was similar in Asians and whites with HFPEF, but longer in Asians compared with whites with HFREF (p=0.001). Longer QRSd was associated with increased risk of HF hospitalisation or death (absolute 2-year event rate for ≤120 ms was 40% and for >120 ms it was 52%; HR for 10 ms increase of QRSd was 1.04 (1.03 to 1.06), p<0.001), with no interaction by ethnicity., Conclusion: We found ethnic differences in the association between EF and QRSd among patients with HF. QRS prolongation was similarly associated with increased risk, but the implications for ethnicity-specific QRSd cut-offs in clinical decision-making require further study., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a global problem with increasing incidence in Asia. Prior studies reported inter-ethnic differences in the prevalence of CAD rather than the severity of CAD. The angiographic "synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with taxus and cardiac surgery" (SYNTAX) score quantifies CAD severity and predicts outcomes. We studied CAD severity and all-cause mortality in four globally populous ethnic groups: Caucasians, Chinese, Indians and Malays., Methods: We quantified SYNTAX scores of 1,000 multi-ethnic patients undergoing PCI in two tertiary hospitals in the Netherlands (Caucasians) and Singapore (Chinese, Indians and Malays). Within each ethnicity we studied 150 patients with stable CAD and 100 with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI). We made inter-ethnic comparisons of SYNTAX scores and all-cause mortality., Results: Despite having a younger age (mean age Indians: 56.8 and Malays: 57.7 vs. Caucasians: 63.7 years), multivariable adjusted SYNTAX scores were significantly higher in Indians and Malays than Caucasians with stable CAD: 13.4 [11.9-14.9] and 13.4 [12.0-14.8] vs. 9.4 [8.1-10.8], p<0.001. Among STEMI patients, SYNTAX scores were highest in Chinese and Malays: 17.7 [15.9-19.5] and 18.8 [17.1-20.6] vs. 15.5 [13.5-17.4] and 12.7 [10.9-14.6] in Indians and Caucasians, p<0.001. Over a median follow-up of 709 days, 67 deaths (stable CAD: 37, STEMI: 30) occurred. Among STEMI patients, the SYNTAX score independently predicted all-cause mortality: HR 2.5 [1.7-3.8], p<0.001 for every 10-point increase. All-cause mortality was higher in Indian and Malay STEMI patients than Caucasians, independent of SYNTAX score (adjusted HR 7.2 [1.5-34.7], p=0.01 and 5.8 [1.2-27.2], p=0.02)., Conclusion: Among stable CAD and STEMI patients requiring PCI, CAD is more severe in Indians and Malays than in Caucasians, despite having a younger age. Moreover, Indian and Malay STEMI patients had a greater adjusted risk of all-cause mortality than Caucasians, independent of SYNTAX score.

Background: In 2020 the largest number of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) will be found in Asia. Published epidemiological and clinical reports are overwhelmingly derived from western (White) cohorts and data from Asia are scant. We compared CAD severity and all-cause mortality among 4 of the world's most populous ethnicities: Whites, Chinese, Indians and Malays., Methods: The UNIted CORoNary cohort (UNICORN) simultaneously enrolled parallel populations of consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography or intervention for suspected CAD in the Netherlands and Singapore. Using multivariable ordinal regression, we investigated the independent association of ethnicity with CAD severity and interactions between risk factors and ethnicity on CAD severity. Also, we compared all-cause mortality among the ethnic groups using multivariable Cox regression analysis., Results: We included 1,759 White, 685 Chinese, 201 Indian and 224 Malay patients undergoing coronary angiography. We found distinct inter-ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, the associations of gender and diabetes with severity of CAD were significantly stronger in Chinese than Whites. Chinese (OR 1.3 [1.1-1.7], p = 0.008) and Malay (OR 1.9 [1.4-2.6], p<0.001) ethnicity were independently associated with more severe CAD as compared to White ethnicity. Strikingly, when stratified for diabetes status, we found a significant association of all three Asian ethnic groups as compared to White ethnicity with more severe CAD among diabetics, but not in non-diabetics. Crude all-cause mortality did not differ, but when adjusted for covariates mortality was higher in Malays than the other ethnic groups., Conclusion: In this population of individuals undergoing coronary angiography, ethnicity is independently associated with the severity of CAD and modifies the strength of association between certain risk factors and CAD severity. Furthermore, mortality differs among ethnic groups. Our data provide insight in inter-ethnic differences in CAD risk factors, CAD severity and mortality.