Trends in incidence, severity, and outcome of hospitalized myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND
In 2000, the definition of myocardial infarction (MI) changed to rely on troponin rather than creatine kinase (CK) and its MB fraction (CK-MB). The implications of this change on trends in MI incidence and outcome are not defined.


RESULTS
This was a community study of 2816 patients hospitalized with incident MI from 1987 to 2006 in Olmsted County, Minnesota, with prospective measurements of troponin and CK-MB from August 2000 forward. Outcomes were MI incidence, severity, and survival. After troponin was introduced, 278 (25%) of 1127 incident MIs met only troponin-based criteria. When cases meeting only troponin criteria were included, incidence did not change between 1987 and 2006. When restricted to cases defined by CK/CK-MB, the incidence of MI declined by 20%. The incidence of non-ST-segment elevation MI increased markedly by relying on troponin, whereas that of ST-segment elevation MI declined regardless of troponin. The age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio of death within 30 days for an infarction occurring in 2006 (compared with 1987) was 0.44 (95% confidence interval, 0.30 to 0.64). Among 30-day survivors, survival did not improve, but causes of death shifted from cardiovascular to noncardiovascular (P=0.001). Trends in long-term survival among 30-day survivors were similar regardless of troponin.


CONCLUSIONS
Over the last 2 decades, a substantial change in the epidemiology of MI occurred that was only partially mediated by the introduction of troponin. Non-ST-segment elevation MIs now constitute the majority of MIs. Although the 30-day case fatality improved markedly, long-term survival did not change, and the cause of death shifted from cardiovascular to noncardiovascular.
MPH, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. roger.veronique@mayo.edu
Véronique L
VL
Roger
Susan A
SA
Weston
Yariv
Y
Gerber
Jill M
JM
Killian
Shannon M
SM
Dunlay
Allan S
AS
Jaffe
Malcolm R
MR
Bell
Jan
J
Kors
Barbara P
BP
Yawn
Steven J
SJ
Jacobsen
D000368:Aged; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014336:Troponin / Q000032:analysis
D014336:Troponin; D003402:Creatine Kinase