Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases Among Elderly Residents of Long-term Care Facilities

The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among nursing home residents is high but little is known whether pharmacologic therapy recommended by actual medication guidelines is followed by facility's staff. To evaluate the adherence to actual guidelines for treatment of cardiovascular diseases among older adult residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities. The cross-sectional study was performed from December 2009 to November 2010 among 189 elderly residents aged ≥60 years in 3 LTC facilities in Poland: 1 long-term care hospital (LTCH) and 2 nursing homes (NHs). The initial evaluation included analysis of medical documentation (all diagnosed diseases and used drugs), blood pressure (BP) measurements and performance of Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF), Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score, and Barthel Index. Prescribed medication for hypertension (HT), heart failure (HF), and coronary heart disease (CHD) were compared to current European Cardiology Society (ESC), and European Society of Hypertension (ESH) medication guidelines. Residents were divided into 3 subgroups: with HT, HF, and CHD. Results were presented as means and standard deviation. Groups were compared using Mann-Whitney U test for nonparametric data and chi-square test to assess differences in distribution of categorical variables. P values