Is degree of chronic illness management in heart transplant centers associated with better patient survival? Findings from the intercontinental BRIGHT study

Purpose To explore the association between the degree of Chronic illness management and survival rates at 1-, 3-, 5-years post heart transplantation. Methods Exploratory secondary analysis of a cross-sectional, international study (Building Research Initiative Group study). Latent profile analysis was performed to classify 36 heart transplant centers according to the degree of chronic illness management. Results The analysis resulted in 2 classes with 29 centers classified as low-degree chronic illness management and 7 centers as high-degree chronic illness management. After 1-year posttransplantation, the high-degree chronic illness management class had a significantly greater mean survival rate compared to the low-degree chronic illness management class (88.4% vs 84.2%, p = 0.045) and the difference had a medium effect size (eta 2 = .06). No difference in survival for the other time points was observed. Patients in high-degree chronic illness management centers had 52% lower odds of moderate to severe drinking (95% confidence interval .30-.78, p = 0.003). No significant associations between degree of chronic illness management and the other recommended health behaviors were observed. Conclusions The findings from this exploratory study offer preliminary insight into a system-level pathway (chronic illness management) for improving outcomes for heart transplant recipients. The signals observed in our data support further investigation into the effectiveness of chronic illness management-based interventions in heart transplant follow-up care.

Automated summary

The study found that heart transplant centers with high-degree chronic illness management had significantly higher mean survival rates at 1 year post-transplantation compared to centers with low-degree chronic illness management, but no differences were observed at other time points. Patients at high-degree chronic illness management centers had lower odds of moderate to severe drinking. There were no significant associations between the degree of chronic illness management and other recommended health behaviors.