Background: The aim of this study was to assess the 1-year outcome of acute myocardial infarction, in current practice, according to the presence or absence of heart failure. This was an epidemiologic, prospective survey involving 2152 patients recruited in November 1995 from 312 French coronary care units.
Methods and results: All consecutive patients admitted within 48 hours for confirmed acute myocardial infarction to the participating centers in November 1995 were included. For each patient, baseline parameters, as well as clinical course and therapeutic treatment during the first 5 days, were collected. For the purpose of this study, the diagnosis of heart failure required a left ventricular ejection fraction </=35% and/or a Killip class >1. During the 1-year follow-up, date and cause of death were recorded. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were analyzed with the log rank test. Cox multivariate analyses were used to assess the independent prognostic factors among 5-day survivors. Eight hundred twenty-one (38%) patients exhibited heart failure during the first 5 days after myocardial infarction. Patients with heart failure were 10 years older and were more likely to be hypertensive or diabetic; use of primary revascularization (33% vs 47%, P <.001) and beta-blockers (40% vs 79%, P <.001) was less frequent, whereas prescription of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors was enhanced (56% vs 41%, P <.001). Mortality rate was strongly related to both left ventricular ejection fraction (P <. 001) and Killip class (P <.001). One-year mortality rate was 39.7% in patients with heart failure compared with 7.1% in patients without heart failure (P <.001). A significant reduction in mortality rates was observed with beta-blockers (risk ratio 0.63 [0. 45 to 0.89], P =.01) and ACE inhibitors (risk ratio 0.73 [0.54 to 0. 99], P =.04). It was more pronounced in patients with heart failure.
Conclusions: Results of this French observational survey are in line with previous epidemiologic studies and with major therapeutic trials. Patients with heart failure after acute myocardial infarction constitute a high-risk group. They appear to derive a greater benefit from treatment with both beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors than from each class on its own.