Medical risk assessment method and program product
A medical risk assessment method and computer program product resident on a computer or a hand-held device that allows a physician to determine the best strategy for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention utilizing current guidelines and published medical literature. The computer program product evaluates a number of risk factors to determine specific recommendations for an individual patient, including Framingham risk scoring (FRS), pertinent medical history, individual lipid panel and advanced lipoprotein profiling, patient laboratory test results, and published literature on the effects of anti-lipid medicines on plasma concentration and/or composition of lipoprotein molecules and clinical outcomes. The risk assessment method establishes a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy for a patient by determining a cardiac risk classification group, determining a cardiovascular treatment therapy based on the patient's lipoprotein profile and the patient's cardiac group risk classification, and presenting the cardiovascular treatment therapy for the patient to a medical practitioner on a patient evaluation display.
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The present invention relates generally to analysis of patient specific medical history and laboratory results, and more particularly to computer-implemented methods and products for assessing a patient's medical risks and formulating a treatment strategy.
Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, accounting for approximately 500,000 deaths per year, and an associated annual morbidity cost of more than $200 billion. Over the past several decades, numerous clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that an elevated blood cholesterol level is one of the major modifiable risk factors associated with the development of coronary heart disease. These studies have demonstrated that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a primary lipoprotein mediating atheroscelorsis. Cigarette smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and a low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are other risk factors that have been implicated in coronary heart disease.
The National Institutes of Health established the National Cholesterol Education program in 1985. The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel I (NCEP-ATP I) developed its first set of guidelines in 1988. The guidelines establish clear goals for patients with lipid abnormalities. Revised guidelines were developed in 1993 (NCEP-ATP II) and in 2001 (NCEP-ATP III). Risk stratification continues to determine LDL goals and the intensity of LDL-lowering therapy. Dietary therapy remains the first line of treatment with drug therapy reserved for use in patents at high risk for coronary heart disease or patients who do not respond to non-pharmacological therapy.
Under the current guidelines, optimal cholesterol screening now includes a lipoprotein profile, preferably using blood drawn in a fasting state. The lipoprotein profile includes total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. The lipoprotein profile cannot be interpreted without knowledge of the patient's risk factors. The major risk factors that modify low-density lipoprotein goals include age (men over 45, women over 55 having normal onset menopause), smoking status (current tobacco user or within the last 5 years), hypertension (blood pressure exceeding 140/90 mmHg), high-density lipoprotein levels, and family history of coronary artery disease. Patients with diabetes and those with a ten year cardiac event risk of 20% or greater are considered coronary heart disease equivalents. An additional step in the determination of coronary heart disease risk involves the calculation of the Framingham risk score (FRS) for persons with two or more risk factors. The ATP III Guidelines also raise the threshold of low HDL cholesterol from less than 35 mg/dL to less than 40 mg/dL. An HDL level of 60 mg/dL or higher is considered to be a negative risk factor.
The FRS is a risk assessment tool that has been derived from data collected in the Framingham heart study. The ATP III Guidelines recommend that patients with two or more risk factors have their FRS calculated. The FRS consist of points that are allocated based on various degrees of risk associated with five categories: age, total cholesterol level, HDL cholesterol level, tobacco smoking status and hypertension and whether this condition is treated. The FRS point total results in a percent risk of having a cardiac event in the next ten years.
In the ATP III Guidelines, the target LDL level for patients with established coronary heart disease is still 100 mg/dL or less. Patients with diabetes and patients with an FRS of 20% or higher are considered coronary heart disease equivalents. Since patients with diabetes and patients with an FRS of 20% or higher are in the same risk category as coronary heart disease patients, it is recommended that they maintain an LDL level of 100 mg/dL.
The extent of LDL lowering therapy depends on the patient's coronary heart disease risk. The two major modalities for lowing the LDL level advocated by the ATP III Guidelines are therapeutic lifestyle changes and drug therapy. Patients are classified in one of three categories of risk: (1) coronary heart disease (CHD) and CHD equivalents, (2) two or more risk factors, or (3) zero or one risk factors. The two or more risk factors category can be further subdivided into patients having an FRS score 12 or higher and patients having an FRS score less than 12.
Therapeutic lifestyle changes encompass diet, physical activity and weight loss. The ATP III Guidelines continue to stress the importance of non-pharmacological treatment, but recognize its limitations by reducing the trial of these modalities from six months to twelve weeks before considering the use of medications to assist in achieving recommended LDL goals.
The failure of therapeutic lifestyle changes to modify LDL cholesterol levels or the presence of high CHD risk levels warrants the use of drug therapy. Several drugs have specific effects on lipoprotein metabolism, including bile acid sequestrants (resins), fibric acids, nicotinic acid, and statins. Bile acid sequestrants include cholestyramine, colestipol, and colesevelam. Fibric acids include gemfibrozil and fenofibrate. Nicotinic acid includes extended-release nicotinic acid (Niaspan) and sustained release nicotinic acids. The statins include lovastatin (Levitor), pravastatin (Pravachol), fluvastatin (Lescol), atorvastatin (Mevacor), synvastatin (Zorcor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor). If the LDL goal based on established risk is not achieved, therapy should be intensified with an increase in drug dosage or the addition of another LDL-lowering drug.
The ATP III Guidelines recognized the increasing number of studies correlating elevated triglyceride levels with increased coronary artery disease risk. The ATP III Guidelines lowered the acceptable triglyceride level from the ATP II Guidelines. The primary modes of treating hypertriglyceridemia are diet and exercise. If indicated, nicotinic acid and fibric acid derivatives are the most effective drugs in lowering triglyceride levels. Triglyceride reduction is also a secondary benefit of statins.
Niapsan is one of only two products in the United States approved for increasing HDL levels. Low HDL cholesterol levels have been shown to be one of the highest risk factors contributing to coronary heart disease. Most of the drugs for treating cholesterol problems are designed to reduce LDL levels. Niaspan's active ingredient, niacin, is most effective in elevating HDL levels. The increase in HDL has been shown to significantly reduce the chances of coronary heart disease.
Statins work by slowing down the liver's production of cholesterol, high levels of which are implicated in atheroschelorsis, a disease process that leads to clogging of the arteries. Heart attack patients typically are given one of the FDA-approved statins at the time of discharge or within months of discharge from the hospital as a preventative measure against future heart attacks. Because of their effectiveness as a class for reducing LDL cholesterol and their favorable safety profile, statins are by far the most frequently used drugs as first line therapy for patients with high LDL cholesterol. Statins generally raise HDL cholesterol levels and lower plasmatriglycerides.
Three bile acid-binding sequestrants are currently available in the United States: cholestyramine (Questran), colestipol (Colestid), and colesevelan hydrochloride (Welchol). These resins significantly decrease LDL cholesterol and can produce small increases in HDL cholesterol. Bile acid sequestrants should generally not be used in patients with triglyceride levels above 200 mg/dL, and should not even be considered for use in patients with triglyceride levels exceeding 400 mg/dL.
Fibrates that are currently available in the United States include gemfibrozil (Lopid) and fenofibrate (TriCor). Gemfibrozil and fenofibrate can decrease triglyceride levels, increase HDL cholesterol levels and shift small, dense LDL particles toward larger, more buoyant sizes, improving and potentially correcting the lipoprotein abnormalities commonly found in Type II diabetes. Since neither fibrate drug adversely affects glycemic control, either can by used in patients with diabetes.
There is a need for a computer-implemented method and computer program product that can enable a physician to quickly assimilate all the pertinent medical data and guidelines recommendations necessary to evaluate a patient's medical risk for cardiovascular disease and determine a patient care management program that is best suited for an individual patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a medical risk assessment method and computer program product that is resident on a computer or a hand-held device and that allows a physician to determine the best strategy for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention utilizing current guidelines and published medical literature. The computer software program evaluates a number of risk factors to determine specific recommendations for an individual patient, including Framingham risk scoring (FRS), pertinent medical history, individual lipid panel and advanced lipoprotein profiling, patient laboratory test results, and published literature on the effects of anti-lipid medicines on plasma concentration and/or composition of lipoprotein molecules and clinical outcomes.
In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a computer-implemented risk assessment method establishes a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy for a patient by determining a cardiac risk classification group for the patient based on a predetermined set of cardiac risk factors, determining a cardiovascular treatment therapy based on the patient's lipoprotein profile and the patient's cardiac group risk classification; and presenting the cardiovascular treatment therapy for the patient to a medical practitioner on a patient evaluation display.
The invention is better understood by reading the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description of the present invention is provided as an enabling teaching of the invention in its best, currently known embodiment. Those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that many changes can be made to the embodiment described, while still obtaining the beneficial results of the present invention. It will also be apparent that some of the desired benefits of the present invention can be obtained by selecting some of the features of the present invention without using other features. Accordingly, those who work in the art will recognize that many modifications and adaptations to the present invention are possible, and may even be desirable in certain circumstances, and are a part of the present invention. Thus, the following description is provided as illustrative of the principles of the present invention and not in limitation thereof, since the scope of the present invention is defined by the claims.
The medical risk assessment software and method of the invention allows a physician to establish an accurate strategy for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention utilizing current guidelines and published medical literature. The software includes artificial intelligence for making clinical decisions in specific situations. The medical risk assessment software takes into consideration a number of key factors including Framingham risk scoring, pertinent medical history, individual lipid panel and advanced lipoprotein profiling, and pertinent individual laboratory values such as serum creatine glucose. Pertinent medical history includes existing conditions such as coronary heart disease (CHD), symptomatic carotid disease (SCD), peripheral vascular disease (PVD), Type II Diabetes Mellitus (Type II DM), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), systolic blood pressure (SPB) treatment, systolic arterial hypertension (SAH), family history of premature coronary artery disease, and whether the patient is a smoker. Individual lipid panel and advanced lipoprotein panel includes cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, high density lipoproteins (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and non-HDL. The medical risk assessment software also takes into consideration the effects of currently available anti-lipid medicines on plasma concentration and/or composition of lipoprotein molecules and clinical outcomes as published in medical literature. The medical risk assessment software makes specific management recommendations for individuals, with or without existing cardiovascular conditions, integrating their clinical and laboratory profiles with results in current published literature and displaying all of this pertinent information and recommended treatment therapies on a patient evaluation display.
The present invention can be implemented on a general purpose computer, a computer network, an Internet-based system, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or as an embedded system. The present invention can be implemented as a portable product to operate on a personal computer, a computer workstation or a mainframe computer. The computer utilized can be of conventional design, having a processing unit, an input device, an output device, and a memory unit interconnected by a communications bus. The memory unit can be a conventional random-access memory (RAM) and a hard disk drive. The memory unit stores a plurality of databases and a plurality of computer instructions that implement the methods and program products of the invention. Two databases are used to implement the invention in one exemplary embodiment. The first contains data extracted from published medical guidelines such as the ATP III guidelines. The second contains data extracted from published medical literature that documents the effects of anti-lipid medicines. In an alternative embodiment, these databases can be integrated to form a single database. The computer program instructions may be implemented in various computer programming languages such as C, C++, Java and can incorporate extracted guidelines and extracted test results into processing algorithms. The program instructions provide the processing logic to evaluate patient-specific information to determine cardiovascular treatment recommendations to display to the physician.
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It is important to note that the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, although those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the invention are capable of being distributed in the form of computer program instructions in a variety of forms, which when executed on the data processing system, perform the methods described herein. The present invention applies regardless of the type of signal bearing medium used to carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing mediums include non-volatile hard-coded mediums, such as read-only memories; recordable type mediums such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, and CD-ROMs; and transmission type mediums such as digital and analog communication links.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy for a patient, comprising the steps of:
- determining a cardiac risk classification group for the patient based on a predetermined set of cardiac risk factors;
- determining a cardiovascular treatment therapy based on the patient's determined cardiac group risk classification and lipoprotein profile; and
- presenting the determined cardiovascular treatment therapy for the patient to a medical practitioner on a patient evaluation display.
2. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 1 wherein the predetermined set of cardiac risk factors comprises a first subset and a second subset of cardiac risk factors.
3. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 2 wherein the first subset of cardiac risk factors includes coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, type II diabetes mellitus, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and symptomatic carotid disease.
4. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 2 wherein the second subset of cardiac risk factors includes a patient's age, a smoking status, a family history of cardiac disease, a diagnosis of systolic arterial hypertension and a systolic blood pressure treated condition.
5. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 1 wherein the step of determining a cardiac risk classification group comprises evaluation of the patient's medical history to determine if the patient has at least one medical condition in a first subset of cardiac risk factors.
6. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 5 wherein the step of determining a cardiac risk classification group further comprises determining a Framingham risk score for the patient.
7. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 5 wherein the step of determining a cardiac risk classification group further comprises evaluation of the patient's medical history to determine if the patient has at least two medical conditions in a second subset of cardiac risk factors.
8. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 5 wherein the patient is classified in a first risk classification group if the patient has at least one medical condition in a first subset of cardiac risk factors.
9. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 6 wherein the patient is classified in a first risk classification group if the patient has a Framingham risk score greater than 15.
10. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 7 wherein the patient is classified in a separate risk classification group if the patient has at least two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors and has a Framingham risk score less than 12.
11. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 7 wherein the patient is classified in a separate risk classification group if the patient has at least two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors and has a Framingham risk score of 12 or greater.
12. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 7 wherein the patient is classified in a separate risk classification group if the patient has less than two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors.
13. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 5 wherein the first subset of cardiac risk factors includes coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, type II diabetes mellitus, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and symptomatic carotid disease.
14. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 5 wherein the second subset of cardiac risk factors includes a patient's age, a smoking status, a family history of cardiac disease, a diagnosis of systolic arterial hypertension and a systolic blood pressure treated condition.
15. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 1 wherein the cardiac group risk classification group and cardiovascular treatment therapies are based on published medical guidelines and published medical literature.
16. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 15 wherein the published medical literature includes the effects of anti-lipid medicines on plasma concentration.
17. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 15 wherein the published medical literature includes the effects of anti-lipid medicines on composition of lipoprotein molecules and clinical outcomes.
18. The computer-implemented method for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 1 further comprising presenting a medical guidelines recommendation for the patient to the medical practitioner on the patient evaluation display.
19. A computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy, the computer program product comprising:
- a recording medium;
- program instructions recorded on the recording medium for determining a cardiac risk classification group for the patient based on a predetermined set of cardiac risk factors;
- program instructions recorded on the recording medium for determining a cardiovascular treatment therapy based on the patient's cardiac group risk classification and lipoprotein profile; and
- program instructions recorded on the recording medium for presenting the determined cardiovascular treatment therapy for the patient to a medical practitioner on a patient evaluation display.
20. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 19 wherein the program instructions for determining a cardiac risk classification group comprise program instructions for evaluation of the patient's medical history to determine if the patient has at least one medical condition in a first subset of cardiac risk factors.
21. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 20 wherein program instructions for determining a cardiac risk classification group further comprise program instructions for determining a Framingham risk score for the patient.
22. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 20 wherein the program instructions for determining a cardiac risk classification group further comprise program instructions for evaluation of the patient's medical history to determine if the patient has at least two medical conditions in a second subset of cardiac risk factors.
23. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 20 further comprising program instructions for classifying the patient in a first risk classification group if the patient has at least one medical condition in a first subset of cardiac risk factors.
24. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 21 further comprising program instructions for classifying the patient in a first risk classification group if the patient has a Framingham risk score greater than 15.
25. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 22 further comprising program instructions for classifying the patient in a separate risk classification group if the patient has at least two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors and has a Framingham risk score less than 12.
26. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 22 further comprising program instructions for classifying the patient in a separate risk classification group if the patient has at least two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors and has a Framingham risk score of 12 or greater.
27. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 22 further comprising program instructions for classifying the patient in a separate risk classification group if the patient has less than two medical conditions in the second subset of cardiac risk factors.
28. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 20 wherein the first subset of cardiac risk factors includes coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, type II diabetes mellitus, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and symptomatic carotid disease.
29. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 20 wherein the second subset of cardiac risk factors includes a patient's age, a smoking status, a family history of cardiac disease, a diagnosis of systolic arterial hypertension and a systolic blood pressure treated condition.
30. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 19 wherein program instructions for determining the cardiac group risk classification group and program instructions for determining cardiovascular treatment therapies are based on published medical guidelines and published medical literature.
31. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 30 wherein the published medical literature includes the effects of anti-lipid medicines on plasma concentration.
32. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 30 wherein the published medical literature includes the effects of anti-lipid medicines on composition of lipoprotein molecules and clinical outcomes.
33. The computer program product for establishing a cardiovascular treatment therapy strategy of claim 19 further comprising presenting a medical guidelines recommendation for the patient to the medical practitioner on the patient evaluation display.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Apr 23, 2004
Date of Patent: Jul 10, 2007
Assignee: Medical Software, LLC (Atlanta, GA)
Inventors: Demir Baykal (Atlanta, GA), Eddy A. Herrera (Suwanee, GA)
Primary Examiner: Charles A. Marmor, II
Assistant Examiner: Karen E Toth
Attorney: Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
Application Number: 10/831,481
International Classification: A61B 5/00 (20060101);