biostudies-literatureUnknown11(17)Jansen SMABackground Recognition of precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) has significant implications for patient management. However, the low a priori chance to find this rare condition in community hospitals may create a barrier against performing a right heart catheterization (RHC). This could result in misclassification of PH and delayed diagnosis/treatment of precapillary PH. Therefore, we investigated patient characteristics and echocardiographic parameters associated with the decision whether to perform an RHC in patients with incident PH in 12 Dutch community hospitals. Methods and Results In total, 275 patients were included from the OPTICS (Optimizing PH Diagnostic Network in Community Hospitals) registry, a prospective cohort study with patients with incident PH; 157 patients were diaJournal of the American Heart Associatione025143https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9496424biostudies-literatureClinical Characteristics of Patients Undergoing Right Heart Catheterizations in Community Hospitals.PMC9496424de Nooijer Rvan der Weerdt AJansen SMAMacken Tvan de Ven MJTJacobs WVoogel AJde Boer RCWillemsen HMPerez Matos AJTolen PHCGBergman HBogaard HJGrotjohan HPBakker-de Boo MRoorda JMMHuis In 't Veld AEOverbeek MJvan der Lee Ivan der Maten JHoekstra REl Bouazzaoui LHHWaskowsky MVriend JWJAerts JMde Man FSVonk Noordegraaf AMollema SAPost JCfalseClinical Characteristics of Patients Undergoing Right Heart Catheterizations in Community Hospitals.Background Recognition of precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) has significant implications for patient management. However, the low a priori chance to find this rare condition in community hospitals may create a barrier against performing a right heart catheterization (RHC). This could result in misclassification of PH and delayed diagnosis/treatment of precapillary PH. Therefore, we investigated patient characteristics and echocardiographic parameters associated with the decision whether to perform an RHC in patients with incident PH in 12 Dutch community hospitals. Methods and Results In total, 275 patients were included from the OPTICS (Optimizing PH Diagnostic Network in Community Hospitals) registry, a prospective cohort study with patients with incident PH; 157 patients were dia2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Sep2025-04-04T12:04:47.727Z2025-04-04T12:04:47.727ZS-EPMC94964243606261010.1161/JAHA.121.025143