Pathway to care, treatment and disease burden of pulmonary arterial hypertension: a real-world survey of physicians and patients in Latin America

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 14; no. 12; p. e087263
• Main Authors: Orozco-Levi, Mauricio, Souza, Rogerio, Bluro, Ignacio M, Harley, Julia, Hernández Oropeza, Jose Luis, Lescano, Adrian, Meyer, Gisela, Pineda, Tatiana, Ramirez, Alicia, Small, Mark, Valencia, Angelo, Pulido, Tomás
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 31.12.2024; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use; Brazil - epidemiology; Cardiac Catheterization - statistics & numerical data; Clinical medicine; Colombia; Combination therapy; Cost of Illness; COVID-19; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Demographics; Dyspnea; Female; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension, Pulmonary - drug therapy; Hypertension, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Hypertension, Pulmonary - therapy; Latin America - epidemiology; Male; Mexico - epidemiology; Middle Aged; Original Research; Patients; Physicians; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - drug therapy; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - epidemiology; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - therapy; Pulmonary Disease; Pulmonary hypertension; Quality of Life; Respiratory Medicine; Retrospective Studies; Risk assessment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Variables; Variance analysis; Brazil; Colombia; Mexico; Latin America; Argentina; Hypertension; Pulmonary Disease; Physicians; Patients
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-087263

ObjectivesTo investigate clinical characteristics, symptom profile, testing practices, treatment patterns and quality of life (QoL) among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in Latin America.DesignData from the Adelphi Real World PAH Disease Specific Programme, a cross-sectional survey with retrospective data collection.SettingUniversity/teaching hospital, regional centres, private practices and government institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.Participants246 physicians provided data for 958 patients, of which 533 patients also self-reported data.ResultsMean (SD) patient age was 53.7 (17) years, 70% of patients were female and 79% were WHO functional class (WHO FC) I–II. Overall, 76% had undergone a right heart catheterisation, ranging from 92% in Argentina to 64% in Brazil (p<0.0001). Only 28% underwent a simplified risk assessment strategy in the past 12 months, ranging from 46% in Argentina to 16% in Brazil. Fatigue and dyspnoea on exertion were reported most commonly by physicians (37% and 53%) and patients (68% and 67%). Patient–physician agreement on symptom reporting was minimal-to-weak (kappa, 0.21–0.42). PAH-specific combination therapy varied across countries (21% Mexico, 30% Brazil, 70% Colombia and 79% Argentina, p<0.0001)). Overall, 73% of patients received a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor; 52% an endothelin receptor antagonist, 15% a prostacyclin pathway agent and 11% a soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator. The mean (SD) EQ-5D (generic instrument to define quality of life)utility ranged from 0.66 (0.20) to 0.70 (0.20) across countries and the mean (SD) EQ-5D Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was 67.0 (18.10). Lower VAS and utility scores were reported among patients with higher WHO FC (p<0.05).ConclusionsPatients reported a high burden of PAH in terms of symptoms and QoL, particularly within higher WHO FC. Low usage of risk assessment strategies and PAH-specific combination therapy was seen in Brazil and Mexico. Further research could identify barriers to prescribing optimal treatment.