Journal of the American College of Cardiology
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Dec 2015
ReviewBuilding Sustainable Capacity for Cardiovascular Care at a Public Hospital in Western Kenya.
Cardiovascular disease deaths are increasing in low- and middle-income countries and are exacerbated by health care systems that are ill-equipped to manage chronic diseases. Global health partnerships, which have stemmed the tide of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries, can be similarly applied to address cardiovascular diseases. ⋯ The building blocks of this framework (leadership and governance, health workforce, health service delivery, health financing, access to essential medicines, and health information system) guided our comprehensive and sustainable approach to delivering subspecialty care in a resource-limited setting. Our experiences may guide the development of similar collaborations in other settings.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Dec 2015
Observational StudyHemoglobin Level and Hospital Mortality Among ICU Patients With Cardiac Disease Who Received Transfusions.
There is a paucity of randomized clinical trial data on the use of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion in critically ill patients, specifically in the setting of cardiac disease. ⋯ Transfusion of critically ill patients was associated with reduced hospital mortality when Hgb level was <8 to 9 g/dl in the presence of comorbid heart disease. This Hgb level threshold for transfusion was 9 to 10 g/dl when AMI was the ICU admission diagnosis.