Perceiving one’s heart condition to be cured following hospitalization for acute coronary syndromes: Implications for patient-provider communication

• One week post-ACS, 30% of patients perceived their heart condition to be cured.
• Older patients and men were more likely to perceive themselves cured.
• History of stroke and hypertension, incident CHD also linked with cure perceptions.
• 58% receiving CABG during hospitalization perceived their heart to be cured.
• Patient-provider discussions should frame ACS as chronic to dispel cure perceptions.
• Patients need realistic expectations—that CABG/PCI treat but do not ‘cure’.

ObjectiveWe examined the proportion of patients perceiving their heart condition to be cured following hospitalization for ACS and identified characteristics associated with these perceptions.MethodsWe conducted a prospective cohort study of adults hospitalized with ACS (N = 396). Patient interviews during hospitalization and one week post-discharge provided demographic and psychosocial characteristics. Medical records provided clinical characteristics. At one week, patients who rated “My heart condition is cured” as “definitely true” or “mostly true” were considered to perceive their heart condition cured.ResultsParticipants were aged 60.7 (SD:11.0) years, 26.5% female, and 89.0% non-Hispanic white; 16.7% had unstable angina, 59.6% NSTEMI, and 23.7% STEMI. One week post-discharge, 30.3% perceived their heart condition to be cured. Characteristics associated with cure perceptions were older age (OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2–4.0 for ≥65 years vs <55 years), male sex (OR = 2.4; 95%CI: 1.3–4.2), history of hypertension (OR = 1.8; 95%CI: 1.1–3.1), history of stroke (OR = 4.2; 95%CI: 1.1–16.7), no history of CHD (OR = 2.8; 95%CI: 1.6–4.9), and receipt of CABG during hospitalization (OR = 4.8, 95%CI: 1.9–12.0 vs medical management).ConclusionOne week post-discharge, 3 in 10 patients perceived their heart condition to be cured.Practice ImplicationsConversations with patients should frame ACS as a chronic disease and dispel cure perceptions.