PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jennifer Downing AU - Tanith C Rose AU - Pooja Saini AU - Bashir Matata AU - Zoe McIntosh AU - Terence Comerford AU - Keith Wilson AU - Allan Pemberton AU - Lesley M Harper AU - Matthew Shaw AU - Konstantinos Daras AU - Ben Barr TI - Impact of a community-based cardiovascular disease service intervention in a highly deprived area AID - 10.1136/heartjnl-2019-315047 DP - 2020 Mar 01 TA - Heart PG - 374--379 VI - 106 IP - 5 4099 - http://heart.bmj.com/content/106/5/374.short 4100 - http://heart.bmj.com/content/106/5/374.full SO - Heart2020 Mar 01; 106 AB - Objective To examine the effects on emergency hospital admissions, length of stay and emergency re-admissions of providing a consultant-led, community-based cardiovascular diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation service, based in a highly deprived area in the North West of England.Methods A longitudinal matched controlled study using difference-in-differences analysis compared the change in outcomes in the intervention population, to the change in outcomes in a matched comparison population that had not received the intervention, 5 years before and after implementation. The outcomes were emergency hospitalisations, length of inpatient stay and re-admission rates for cardiovascular disease (CVD).Results Findings show that the intervention was associated with 66 fewer emergency CVD admissions per 100 000 population per year (95% CI 22.13 to 108.98) in the post-intervention period, relative to the control group. No significant measurable effects on length of stay or emergency re-admission rates were observed.Conclusion This consultant-led, community-based cardiovascular diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation service was associated with a lower rate of emergency hospital admissions in a highly disadvantaged population. Similar approaches could be an effective component of strategies to reduce unplanned hospital admissions.