Long-term prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction in the era of acute revascularization (from the Heart Institute of Japan Acute Myocardial Infarction [HIJAMI] registry)

Background: The long-term prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the contemporary acute revascularization era is not fully understood.

Methods: To clarify long-term prognosis and prognostic factors of AMI patients in a real-world setting, we consecutively registered 3021 patients with AMI (mean age 69 years, 70.7% male) who were admitted to 17 participating medical institutions and followed up prospectively. The outcome measure was death from any cause.

Results: Among 3021 patients, 629 patients had non-ST elevation MI (non-STEMI). During the index hospitalization, coronary angioplasty and thrombolytic therapy were performed in 58.1% and 16.3% of patients, respectively. During hospitalization, 285 patients (9.4%) died. Among 2736 patients (90.6%) who were discharged alive and followed for a median of 4.3 years (follow-up rate, 97.1%), 434 patients (15.9%) died. Among them, 250 (57.6%) died from non-cardiac causes. Compared with STEMI patients, non-STEMI patients suffered significantly more adverse outcomes. Advanced age and non-STEMI disease were associated with poorer outcomes. Multivariate analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus, acute-phase heart failure (Killip functional class ≥ 2), higher serum creatinine level (≥ 1.2 mg/dl), and advanced age (≥ 70 years and ≥ 80 years) at the onset of the AMI were independent poor prognostic factors (hazard ratios, 1.07, 2.53, 1.89, 2.50, and 6.80 respectively).

Conclusions: AMI patients in the era of acute revascularization have favorable long-term prognoses, and a large proportion of late deaths are non-cardiac in nature. The establishment of an optimal management strategy for elderly AMI patients, AMI patients with diabetes, and non-ST elevation AMI patients are essential.