Improved evaluation strategies are needed to recognize transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) faster in patients presenting with heart failure (HF), especially for women and patients with HF-associated comorbidities, according to study findings published in JAMA Cardiology.
nvestigators aimed to measure time from incident HF diagnosis to ATTR-CM diagnosis, hoping to identify predictors of delayed diagnosis. Time to ATTR-CM diagnosis was the primary outcome.
The investigators used administrative data claims from the United States Medicare fee-for-service database from January 2016 through December 2022 to conduct a cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with HF and ATTR-CM following the HF diagnosis or within 1 year prior. A previously developed algorithm with a sensitivity of 84% and positive predictive value of 94% was used to identify ATTR-CM. Medicare enrollees with an incident HF diagnosis more than 10 years prior to incident amyloid diagnosis were among those excluded.