Temporal changes in the pattern of invasive angiography use and its outcome in suspected coronary artery disease: implications for patient management and healthcare resource utilization

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Introduction: Invasive coronary angiography (CAG), the 'gold standard' in coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnosis, requires hospitalization, is not risk-free, and engages considerable healthcare resources.Aim: To assess recent (throught out 10 years) evolution of 'significant' (≥ 50% stenosis(es)) CAD prevalence in subjects undergoing CAG for CAD diagnosis in a high-volume tertiary referral center.Material and methods: Anonymized medical records were compared from the last vs. the first 2-years of the decade (June 2007 to May 2018).Referrals for suspected CAD were 2067 of 4522 hospitalizations (45.7%) and 1755 of 5196 (33.8%) respectively (p < 0.001).Results: The median patient age (64 vs. 68 years) and the prevalence of heart failure (24.1% vs. 42.2%)increased significantly (p < 0.001).The CAG atherosclerotic lesions, for all stenosis categories (< 50%; ≥ 50%; ≥ 70%; occlusion(s)), were significantly more prevalent in men.The proportion of subjects with any atherosclerosis on CAG increased (80.7% vs. 77.6%,p = 0.015).However, in the absence of any gross change in, for instance, the fraction of women (40.4% vs. 41.8%), the proportion of CAGs with significant CAD (lesion(s) ≥ 50%) decreased from 55.2% in 2007/2008 to below 1 in every 2 angiograms (48.9%) in 2017/2018 (p < 0.001).This unexpected finding occurred consistently across nearly all CAG referral categories.Conclusions: Despite more advanced age and a higher proportion of subjects with 'any' coronary atherosclerosis on CAG, the likelihood of a 'negative' angiogram (lesion(s) < 50%; no further evaluation/intervention) has increased significantly over the last decade.The exact nature of this phenomenon requires further investigation, particularly as a reverse trend would be expected with the growing role (and current high penetration) of contemporary non-invasive diagnostic tools to rule out significant CAD.

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