European Society of Cardiology Quality Indicators for the care and outcomes of adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

AIMS: To develop a suite of quality indicators (QIs) for the evaluation of the care and outcomes for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

METHODS AND RESULTS: We followed the ESC methodology for the development of QIs. This included the 1) identification of key domains of care for the management of PAH, 2) proposal of candidate QIs following systematic review of the literature, and 3) selection of a set of QIs using a modified-Delphi method. The process was undertaken in parallel with the writing of the 2022 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) / European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension and involved Task Force chairs, experts in PAH, Heart Failure Association (HFA) members and patient representatives. We identified five domains of care for patients with PAH; structural framework, diagnosis and risk stratification, initial treatment, follow up, and outcomes. In total, 23 main and one secondary QIs for PAH were selected.

CONCLUSION: This document presents the ESC QIs for PAH, describes their development process and offers scientific rationale for their selection. The indicators may be used to quantify and improve adherence to guideline-recommended clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.