2022 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for Integrating Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease and Multimorbidity Treatment: A Framework for Pragmatic, Patient-Centered Care: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Solution Set Oversight Committee.

Writing Committee
Kim K Birtcher
Larry A Allen
Jeffrey L Anderson
Marc P Bonaca
Ty J. Gluckman, Providence Heart and Vascular Institute, Portland, OR, USA.
Aliza Hussain
Mikhail Kosiborod
Laxmi S Mehta
Salim S Virani

Abstract

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is one of the most common chronic medical conditions worldwide. Most patients with ASCVD have other chronic conditions. Fractionated care plans, polypharmacy, side effects, drug–drug interactions, and financial toxicity can all begin to accumulate as patients acquire multimorbidity and advancing age. Clinicians caring for these patients need better guidance on how to mitigate ASCVD progression and major adverse cardiovascular events within the context of other chronic conditions, multiple guideline-directed medical therapies, changing prognoses, and patient preferences for care. Although this decision pathway is applicable to patients of all ages with ASCVD and multimorbidity, herein we advocate for the integration of evidence-based treatments into a broader value-based care framework that incorporates the American Geriatrics Society’s principles on the care of older adults with multimorbidity, the 4Ms from the Age-Friendly Health System, the 4-domain framework of care for older adults with heart failure, and social determinants of health. As patients acquire more chronic conditions, the burdens of available therapy intensify while life expectancy shortens. Accordingly, care for patients must shift from recommending all evidence-based options to an approach that prioritizes therapies with the greatest expected benefit/harm profile, while aligning with patients’ goals and preferences.