title: Improving long-term survival of patients with acute myocardial infarction from 1977-1988 in a region of Denmark.
abstract: The aim of this investigation was to study secular trends in long-term survival following myocardial infarction (MI). Five thousand one hundred and fifty-seven consecutive cases of MI in 3942 patients were recorded in a well-defined region in the study period 1977-1988. The study period ended before thrombolytic therapy was introduced in the hospital. One and 5-year survival (+/- 95% confidence limits) was 61 +/- 2% and 42 +/- 2% in 1977-1980. These figures changed to 61 +/- 2% and 44 +/- 2% in 1981-1984, and to 64 +/- 2 and 46 +/- 2% in 1985-1988. The improvement with time was statistically significant (P < 0.001). In a Cox proportional hazard model, time of infarction was an independent predictor of survival. Patients were subdivided into a high risk group suffering from either congestive heart failure or cardiac arrest during hospitalization, and a low risk group without these complications. Year of infarction was without importance in the high risk group but highly significant in the low risk group. Long-term survival following MI gradually improved prior to the introduction of thrombolytic therapy. The improvement was confined to low risk patients without cardiac arrest or congestive heart failure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology C40, Glostrup University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torp-Pedersen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Køber
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Melchior
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Joen
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ringsdal
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ege
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy