Association between in-hospital guideline adherence and postdischarge major adverse outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndrome in Vietnam: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the association between physician adherence to prescribing guideline-recommended medications during hospitalisation and 6-month major adverse outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndrome in Vietnam. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING The study was carried out in two public hospitals in Vietnam between January and October 2015. Patients were followed for 6 months after discharge. PARTICIPANTS Patients who survived during hospitalisation with a discharge diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome and who were eligible for receiving at least one of the four guideline-recommended medications. EXPOSURES Guideline adherence was defined as prescribing all guideline-recommended medications at both hospital admission and discharge for eligible patients. Medications were antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers and statins. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Six-month major adverse outcomes were defined as all-cause mortality or hospital readmission due to cardiovascular causes occurring during 6 months after discharge. Cox regression models were used to estimate the association between guideline adherence and 6-month major adverse outcomes. RESULTS Overall, 512 patients were included. Of those, there were 242 patients (47.3%) in the guideline adherence group and 270 patients (52.3%) in the non-adherence group. The rate of 6-month major adverse outcomes was 30.5%. A 29% reduction in major adverse outcomes at 6 months after discharge was found for patients of the guideline adherence group compared with the non-adherence group (adjusted HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.98; p=0.039). Covariates significantly associated with the major adverse outcomes were percutaneous coronary intervention, prior heart failure and renal insufficiency. CONCLUSIONS In-hospital guideline adherence was associated with a significant decrease in major adverse outcomes up to 6 months after discharge. It supports the need for improving adherence to guidelines in hospital practice in low-income and middle-income countries like Vietnam.