FRIDAY, Feb. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The incidence rate of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has decreased in recent years, as has long-term mortality in patients with STEMI and non-STEMI, according to a study published in the January issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
David D. McManus, M.D., of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, and colleagues investigated recent trends in the incidence and death rates associated with acute myocardial infarction. They reviewed the medical records of 5,383 patients hospitalized for either STEMI or non-STEMI between 1997 and 2005, and looked at incidence rates, hospital treatment practices, and short- and long-term death rates.
The researchers found a significant decrease in the incidence of STEMI (121 to 77 per 100,000), whereas the incidence of non-STEMI increased slightly (126 to 132 per 100,000) between 1997 and 2005. Although in-hospital and 30-day case-fatality rates remained stable in both groups, one-year post-discharge death rates decreased for STEMI and non-STEMI patients. Among STEMI patients, the odds of dying within one year after discharge were 50 percent lower in 2005 compared to 1997.
"Our findings suggest that acute myocardial infarction prevention and treatment efforts have resulted in favorable decreases in the frequency of STEMI and death rates from the major types of acute myocardial infarction," the authors write.
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