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POLARIS-CV (CARDIOVASCULAR)
Improving the quality of life among adults with cardiovascular disease

THE STORY BEHIND THE PRODUCT

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Prevalence rates of major depression among people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) range from 15 to 23 percent. The number can approach 50 percent when you include patients who are experiencing serious symptoms of depression. These are persisting cognitive and somatic conditions that have a powerful impact upon cardiac prognosis. Major depression is a significant predictor of mortality six months after myocardial infarction; it is the best predictor of adverse cardiac events among patients who undergo cardiac catheterization. Medical costs of untreated depression in CVD patients are high. Increased morbidity leads to higher medical utilization for depressed patients, whose rehospitalization expenses alone have been found to be more than four times those of undepressed CVD patients

Yet depression is rarely diagnosed by either primary care physicians or cardiologists.

There is growing evidence that psychosocial and pharmacological treatment of depression in CVD patients results in improved quality of life and psychosocial functioning, and in reduced medical costs and cardiac morbidity and mortality. Even modest interventions can make a significant difference.

The Polaris team recognized that mortality rates and quality of life among patients with cardiac disease could be improved through the integration of behavioral and medical treatments. Building upon their prior experience of designing assessments used in the treatment of psychosocial conditions, they developed a computer-supported system that would help healthcare providers detect, monitor, and treat depression and anxiety in patients with heart disease.

The resulting product, Polaris-CV, was developed with funding support from the National Institutes on Health (NIH). The NIH sponsorship enabled Polaris to assess depression in 1,000 CVD patients and monitor them for two years. Polaris has used these data to provide Polaris-CV with numerous innovative features, most notably the prediction of risk for hospitalization.

Polaris-CV combines state-of-the-art research and technology to help healthcare organizations improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of services. It increases the awareness of underlying mood disorders as a major cardiovascular disease risk factor, and can help motivate patients to seek treatment. The system, normed on a cardiac population, is grounded in extensive NIH research on treatment effectiveness, outcomes management, and in medical studies of depression, anxiety, and other CVD risk factors.

POLARIS-CV IN BRIEF

✔ Reliable assessment of the severity of the patient’s depression and anxiety and the identification of other psychosocial risk factors.

✔ Analysis and reporting of individual/aggregate patient data to support clinical decision-making

✔ Clinically actionable, real-time reports printed on site that include an evidence-based indicator of risk for hospitalization

✔ Availability of an abbreviated version to further reduce respondent burden

✔ Full automation of Polaris-CV administration, scheduling, scoring, and reporting

✔ Privacy-protected, HIPAA compliant database management


Learn more about the key features and design of Polaris-CV.

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