Population trends in the incidence and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have characterized recent population trends in the incidence and outcomes of myocardial infarction.


METHODS
We identified patients 30 years of age or older in a large, diverse, community-based population who were hospitalized for incident myocardial infarction between 1999 and 2008. Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates were calculated for myocardial infarction overall and separately for ST-segment elevation and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Patient characteristics, outpatient medications, and cardiac biomarker levels during hospitalization were identified from health plan databases, and 30-day mortality was ascertained from administrative databases, state death data, and Social Security Administration files.


RESULTS
We identified 46,086 hospitalizations for myocardial infarctions during 18,691,131 person-years of follow-up from 1999 to 2008. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of myocardial infarction increased from 274 cases per 100,000 person-years in 1999 to 287 cases per 100,000 person-years in 2000, and it decreased each year thereafter, to 208 cases per 100,000 person-years in 2008, representing a 24% relative decrease over the study period. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction decreased throughout the study period (from 133 cases per 100,000 person-years in 1999 to 50 cases per 100,000 person-years in 2008, P<0.001 for linear trend). Thirty-day mortality was significantly lower in 2008 than in 1999 (adjusted odds ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.65 to 0.89).


CONCLUSIONS
Within a large community-based population, the incidence of myocardial infarction decreased significantly after 2000, and the incidence of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction decreased markedly after 1999. Reductions in short-term case fatality rates for myocardial infarction appear to be driven, in part, by a decrease in the incidence of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and a lower rate of death after non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
Yeh
Robert W
RW
Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Sidney
Stephen
S
Chandra
Malini
M
Sorel
Michael
M
Selby
Joseph V
JV
Go
Alan S
AS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D015415:Biomarkers; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors