Background To document the pharmacotherapy of chronic heart failure (CHF) and to evaluate the adherence to treatment guidelines in Australian population.Methods The pharmacological management of 677 patients (female 46.7%,75.5±11.6 years) with CHF was retrospectively analyzed.Results The use of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) and fl-blockers were 58.2%and 34.7%,respectively.Major reasons for non-use of ACE inhibitors/ARBs were hyperkalemia and elevated serum creatimne level.For patients who did not receive β-blockers,asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the main contraindications.Treatment at or above target dosages for ACE inhibitors/ARBs and β-blockers was low for each medication (40.3% and 28.9%,respectively).Conclusions Evidenced-based medical therapies for heart failure were under used in a rural patient population.Further studies are required to develop processes to improve the optimal use of heart failure medications.

Objectives: This study aims to develop and validate a country specific osteoporosis risk assessing tool for Sri Lankan postmenopausal women. Methods: Community-dwelling postmenopausal women were enrolled to development (n ¼ 602) and validation (n ¼ 339) samples. Clinical risk factors (CRFs) of osteoporosis were assessed. Bone mineral densities (BMD) of femoral neck, total hip and lumbar spine were assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. Radial ultrasound (US) bone scan was done. Linear regression analysis was performed in development sample considering regional BMDs as dependent and CRFs as independent variables. Regression equations were developed to estimate regional BMDs using best predictive CRFs.Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) were assessed to validate the new tools. Results: Age, body weight and US T-scores showed positive correlations with BMDs of all 3 sites. Two osteoporosis risk assessing tools (OPRATs) were developed as OPRAT-1 and OPRAT-2. Prevalence of osteoporosis, in the validation sample was 74.3%. Sensitivity were high in both tools (OPRAT-1 and OPRAT-2; 83.2% and 82.5%) while specificity were moderate (44.8% for both). PPV of OPRAT-1 and OPRAT-2 were 79.5% and 81.2%. Both tools showed moderate NPV (OPRAT-1 and OPRAT-2; 51% and 47%). Conclusions Both OPRAT-1 and OPRAT-2 have high performance in screening postmenopausal women in Sri Lanka for risk of osteoporosis. OPRAT-2 is more convenient and can be used in any healthcare setting with limited resources to identify women who will be benefitted by DXA. OPRAT-1 can be used if the radial US facility is available.