European Society of Cardiology Quality Indicators for the Care and Outcomes of Adults with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Developed in Collaboration with the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology
Suleman Aktaa, Chris P Gale, Margarita Brida, George Giannakoulas, Gábor Kovács, Yochai Adir, Raymond L. Benza, Michael Böhm, Andrew J.S. Coats, Michele D’Alto, Pilar Escribano Subías, Pisana Ferrari, Nazzareno Galiè, J. Simon R. Gibbs, Wendy Gin‐Sing, Marius M. Hoeper, Marc Humbert, Iréne Lang, Bradley A. Maron, Gergely Mészáros, Anton Vonk Noordegraaf, Laura Price, Joanna Pepke‐Żaba, Göran Rådegran, Abílio Reis, Olivier Sitbon, Adam Torbicki, Silvia Ulrich, Stephan Rosenkranz, Marion Delcroix
Abstract
AIMS: To develop a suite of quality indicators (QIs) for the evaluation of the care and outcomes for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). METHODS AND RESULTS: We followed the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) methodology for the development of QIs. This included (i) the identification of key domains of care for the management of PAH, (ii) the proposal of candidate QIs following systematic review of the literature, and (iii) the selection of a set of QIs using a modified Delphi method. The process was undertaken in parallel with the writing of the 2022 ESC/European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension and involved the Task Force chairs, experts in PAH, Heart Failure Association (HFA) members and patient representatives. We identified five domains of care for patients with PAH: structural framework, diagnosis and risk stratification, initial treatment, follow-up, and outcomes. In total, 23 main and one secondary QIs for PAH were selected. CONCLUSION: This document presents the ESC QIs for PAH, describes their development process and offers scientific rationale for their selection. The indicators may be used to quantify and improve adherence to guideline-recommended clinical practice and improve patient outcomes.