TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal Trends in Diagnostic Testing Patterns for Wild-Type Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy in the Medicare Fee-for-Service Population
AU - Bourque, Jamieson M.
AU - Schepart, Alexander
AU - Bhambri, Rahul
AU - Castaño, Adam
AU - O'Brien, Alex
AU - Chen, Yong
AU - Prasad, Sapna
AU - Roy, Anuja
AU - Grodin, Justin L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Schepart, Dr. Bhambri, Dr. Roy, and Dr. Chen are full-time employees of Pfizer and hold stock and/or stock options. Dr. Castaño was a full-time employee of Pfizer at the time that this research was conceived and conducted. Dr. O'Brien and Dr. Prasad are employees of Clarify Health Solutions, which received financial support from Pfizer for use of the Medicare claims database, consultation on study decisions, and data analysis. Dr. Bourque receives consulting fees from Pfizer and GE Healthcare. Dr. Grodin has research support from the Texas Health Resources Clinical Scholarship and Eidos, and receives consulting fees from Pfizer, Alnylam, Eidos, and Sarepta. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2022/3/15
Y1 - 2022/3/15
N2 - Wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt-CM) is frequently misdiagnosed or diagnosed late in the disease course. ATTRwt-CM can be diagnosed invasively through tissue biopsy, but current diagnostic recommendations indicate technetium-99m pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) bone scintigraphy is an acceptable noninvasive alternative. The relative use of these confirmatory diagnostic tests in routine clinical practice is unknown. A retrospective observational study assessed temporal trends in biopsy and 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy and differences in patient characteristics using in/outpatient claims data from the US Medicare fee-for-service database. Claims prevalence for biopsy alone (≥1 claim for cardiac/extracardiac biopsy), imaging alone (≥1 claim for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy), and both tests and patient demographic, geographic, and clinical characteristics were examined. Of patients (n = 1226) receiving an ATTRwt-CM diagnostic code, 29%, 47%, and 24% were diagnosed by biopsy alone, 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone, and both tests, respectively. Patients with claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone were older than those with claims for biopsy alone (79.9 vs 76.5; p <0.001). Fewer patients in the southern United States and more patients in the northeastern United States had claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone than biopsy alone (p <0.001). There was a temporal trend toward more claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone (odds ratio 1.21; p <0.001) and both tests (odds ratio 1.10; p = 0.008) versus biopsy alone. From 2017 to 2019, claims increased for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone. In conclusion, these data suggest a growing preference for the noninvasive imaging technique, which has high sensitivity/specificity, usability, and accessibility and may help facilitate earlier disease diagnosis. United States regional differences in the use of 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy highlight the need for education initiatives.
AB - Wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt-CM) is frequently misdiagnosed or diagnosed late in the disease course. ATTRwt-CM can be diagnosed invasively through tissue biopsy, but current diagnostic recommendations indicate technetium-99m pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) bone scintigraphy is an acceptable noninvasive alternative. The relative use of these confirmatory diagnostic tests in routine clinical practice is unknown. A retrospective observational study assessed temporal trends in biopsy and 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy and differences in patient characteristics using in/outpatient claims data from the US Medicare fee-for-service database. Claims prevalence for biopsy alone (≥1 claim for cardiac/extracardiac biopsy), imaging alone (≥1 claim for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy), and both tests and patient demographic, geographic, and clinical characteristics were examined. Of patients (n = 1226) receiving an ATTRwt-CM diagnostic code, 29%, 47%, and 24% were diagnosed by biopsy alone, 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone, and both tests, respectively. Patients with claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone were older than those with claims for biopsy alone (79.9 vs 76.5; p <0.001). Fewer patients in the southern United States and more patients in the northeastern United States had claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone than biopsy alone (p <0.001). There was a temporal trend toward more claims for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone (odds ratio 1.21; p <0.001) and both tests (odds ratio 1.10; p = 0.008) versus biopsy alone. From 2017 to 2019, claims increased for 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy alone. In conclusion, these data suggest a growing preference for the noninvasive imaging technique, which has high sensitivity/specificity, usability, and accessibility and may help facilitate earlier disease diagnosis. United States regional differences in the use of 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy highlight the need for education initiatives.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.amjcard.2021.11.048
DO - 10.1016/j.amjcard.2021.11.048
M3 - Article
C2 - 35022130
AN - SCOPUS:85122559002
SN - 0002-9149
VL - 167
SP - 98
EP - 103
JO - American Journal of Cardiology
JF - American Journal of Cardiology
ER -