Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a well established therapy in patients with heart failure and has been proven to reduce morbidity and mortality. However, there is still a gap between the number of patients with an indication for a CRT (according to the guidelines) and its actualutilization, with wide variations between different countries. Aim of the study was to investigate the utilization of CRT´s in Austria.
Methods and results: The calculations are based on a previously published models: Roughly 1-2% of the general population suffer from heart failure, of whom 10% have an indication for CRT, leading to 1000-2000 eligible patients per million inhabitants. The actual number of patients treated with a CRT was calculated from the sum of CRT implantations over five years (normalized / million). Statistics Austria was used as a source. The CRT penetration was definedas CRT patients treated with a CRT divided by the prevalence of patients eligible for CRT. As can be depicted in Table 1 the normalized implant rates increased over the years. In Austria an estimate of 660 patients normalized per million population received a CRT device, therefore the estimated CRT penetration range was 33-66% (Figure 1).
Conclusions:: Although implantrates increased over the years, the CRT penetration range is still not very high. Efforts should be made to improve the CRT utilization.