TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving usual care after sudden death in the young with focus on inherited cardiac diseases (the CAREFUL study)
T2 - A community-based intervention study
AU - Van Der Werf, Christian
AU - Hendrix, Anneke
AU - Birnie, Erwin
AU - Bots, Michiel L.
AU - Vink, Aryan
AU - Bardai, Abdennasser
AU - Blom, Marieke T.
AU - Bosch, Jan
AU - Bruins, Wendy
AU - Das, C.
AU - Koster, Rudolph W.
AU - Naujocks, Tatjana
AU - Schaap, Balthasar
AU - Tan, Hanno L.
AU - De Vos, Ronald
AU - De Vries, Philip
AU - Woonink, Frits
AU - Doevendans, Pieter A.
AU - Van Weert, Henk C.
AU - Wilde, Arthur A M
AU - Mosterd, Arend
AU - Van Langen, Irene M.
N1 - Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2015. For permissions please email: [email protected].
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Autopsy
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Family
KW - Genetics
KW - Prevention
KW - Sudden cardiac death
KW - Sudden death
KW - Sudden unexplained death syndrome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84975678745&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/europace/euv059
DO - 10.1093/europace/euv059
M3 - Article
C2 - 25833117
SN - 1099-5129
VL - 18
SP - 592
EP - 601
JO - Europace
JF - Europace
IS - 4
ER -