Physicians should focus on improving the quality of life of patients suffering from chronic chest pain, now that the death rates associated with it are low, an article suggests.

"Importantly, this study describes the first long-term results from the largest and most contemporary follow-up of patients in a dedicated refractory angina clinic," says the study's first author Timothy D. Henry, MD, director of research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. "Our results demonstrate that long-term mortality in patients with refractory angina is surprisingly low, below 4 percent per year."
The OPtions In Myocardial Ischemic Syndrome Therapy (OPTIMIST) program at the Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis was created for refractory angina patients in 1996 to develop new treatment options for this challenging patient population. This study reflects the long-term survival and predictors of mortality.
The study population consisted of 1,200 consecutive patients with either refractory myocardial ischemia and/or refractory angina, who were not candidates for traditional revascularization and referred for alternative treatment strategies from 1996 to present.
Overall, 241 patients of the 1,200 died during a median follow-up of 5.1 years. After an analysis, the researchers determined mortality was 3.9 percent at one year and 28.4 percent at nine years.
"Currently, data on the incidence and prevalence of refractory angina are scarce and mainly derived from registries," explains Henry.
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Improved secondary prevention strategies, evidence-based medical therapy and more advanced revascularization techniques all likely contributed to lower mortality, concluded Henry and his colleagues in the paper.
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Based on the findings, more than 70 percent of patients with refractory angina can expect to survive nine years from the time of diagnosis. Given these results, the researchers emphasized that therapeutic options for this growing population should therefore focus on chest pain relief and improved quality of life.
Source-Eurekalert