Acute noncardiac conditions and in-hospital mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND
Acute myocardial infarction may be accompanied by acute, severe, concomitant, noncardiac conditions, but their prevalence and prognostic importance is not well defined. We sought to evaluate the prevalence of acute, severe, noncardiac conditions present at the time of hospital admission with acute myocardial infarction and to assess the association of these conditions with in-hospital mortality.


RESULTS
A total of 3907 patients admitted with an acute myocardial infarction were prospectively enrolled in 19 US centers between January 2003 and June 2004. Acute noncardiac conditions present at admission with imminent threat to life were identified from medical record review within 24 hours of admission. Using multivariable analyses, we evaluated the relationship between these conditions and in-hospital mortality. We documented a concomitant acute, severe, noncardiac condition in 6.8% (n=267) of the study sample. The most common concomitant conditions were severe pneumonia (potentially requiring intubation; 18.4%), severe gastrointestinal bleeding/anemia (15.7%), stroke (9.7%), and sepsis (9.4%). These patients were less likely to be ideal for or to receive evidence-based therapies at the time of admission. The in-hospital mortality was 21.3% (57 of 267) for patients with concomitant conditions versus 2.7% (100 of 3640) for those without these conditions. The presence of an acute noncardiac condition was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality after adjustment for demographic and clinical characteristics and disease severity (odds ratio, 5.0; 95% confidence interval, 3.3 to 7.7).


CONCLUSIONS
Concomitant, acute, noncardiac conditions are common and associated with a marked increase in the risk of in-hospital mortality.
Lichtman
Judith H
JH
Section of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn, USA.
Spertus
John A
JA
Reid
Kimberly J
KJ
Radford
Martha J
MJ
Rumsfeld
John S
JS
Allen
Norrina B
NB
Masoudi
Frederick A
FA
Weintraub
William S
WS
Krumholz
Harlan M
HM
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors