Trends in the Use of Cardiac Imaging for Patients With Heart Failure in Canada

IMPORTANCE: Cardiac imaging is a component of the provision of medical care for patients with heart failure that has experienced a broad expansion in past decades. However, there is a paucity of studies examining the patterns of use of cardiac imaging modalities in real-world clinical practice. OBJECTIVES: To investigate temporal trends in the use and costs of cardiac imaging for the examination of patients with heart failure in Canada and to examine the association between the institution of an accreditation program and the use of echocardiography. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A repeated cross-sectional study based on population-based administrative databases in Ontario, Canada, of individuals with heart failure identified using a validated algorithm based on hospital admissions and ambulatory physician claims was conducted between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2017. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The incidence and prevalence of heart failure and the age- and sex-adjusted rate of use and costs of cardiac imaging, including resting and stress echocardiography, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, invasive coronary angiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography. RESULTS: A total of 882 355 adults (50.1% women; median age, 76 years [interquartile range, 66-83 years]) with prevalent heart failure were identified. The age- and sex-standardized prevalence of heart failure remained stable during the study (2.4% [95% CI, 2.4%-2.4%] in 2002 and 2.0% [95% CI, 2.0%-2.0%] in 2016). There was an increase in the rate of use of resting echocardiography, from 386 tests (95% CI, 373-398) per 1000 patients with heart failure in 2002 to 533 (95% CI, 519-547) per 1000 patients in 2011. Coinciding with the initiation of an accreditation program for echocardiography in 2012, there was an immediate reduction in the rate of use (−59.5 tests per 1000 patients with heart failure; P < .001), which was followed by a plateau in subsequent years. At the same time, there was a 10.8% relative reduction in the use of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and an 11.2% relative reduction in the use of invasive coronary angiography from 2011 to 2016 and the incorporation of newer modalities after they became publicly insured health services. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These findings suggest that resting echocardiography remains the most used imaging technique for patients with heart failure, exceeding the use of and the cost spent on other modalities. Stabilization in the use of traditional imaging modalities coincided temporally with the emergence of advanced techniques and provincewide quality improvement policy initiatives.