Treatment pathways defined as the sequence of visits to the public health system of patients with cardiomyopathies in Poland in the period 2016–2021

WHAT'S NEW?Until now no study so far has investigated into the clinical scenarios of patients following initial diagnosis of cardiomyopathies (CMs).The study provides for the first time data on the treatment pathways defined as the sequence of visits to the public health system of 65 383 patients with CMs in Poland.The study delivered evidence that the diagnosis of CMs in Poland is made very late, mainly during in-hospital stay, in the majority of patients during the exacerbation of the disease and in the majority of patients with comorbidities.The mortality rate of CMs patients is very high especially in patients who are registered in the system only once (47% of all subjects) and in patients with Charlson Comorbidity Index ≥5.The study underscored the suboptimal care of patients with CMs in Poland and need for a more efficient CMs management provided by tertiary reference outpatient care.