The occurrence of acute myocardial infarction in Italy: a five-year analysis of hospital discharge records.
BACKGROUND
The incidence and costs of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Europe represent a substantial problem due to population aging.


METHODS
Between 2001 and 2005, Italian hospitalization records were examined to evaluate hospital admissions and costs of AMI in adults aged ≥ 45 and in elderly people ≥ 65 or ≥ 75. Hospital costs were calculated on the basis of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs).


RESULTS
75,586 men and 43,164 women were hospitalized because of AMI in 2005, showing respectively increases of 17.2% and 29.2% across five years. In the youngest age group (45-64), 29,925 hospitalizations in men and 6443 in women due to AMI were registered during 2005. In the subgroup of patients aged 65-74, 21,621 men and 10,145 women were hospitalized for AMI; in the oldest group (≥ 75) 24,040 and 26,576 hospitalizations were recorded. The increasing rates across the five examined years were 8.3% and 22.0% in the first age group, 14.3% and 17.4% in people aged 65-74, and 31.8% and 36.3% in the oldest subgroup, respectively in men and women. Among AMI patients aged ≥ 75, the number of women was always higher than that of men. Overall hospitalization costs due to AMI in Italy were 305 million Euros in 2001 and 370 million in 2005, with an average cost of 3115 Euros per patient in the latter year.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings confirm AMI as a leading health problem and a leading cause of health care costs.
Piscitelli
Prisco
P
ISBEM Research Center, Brindisi, Italy. prisco.piscitelli@tiscali.it
Iolascon
Giovanni
G
Greco
Marco
M
Marinelli
Alessandra
A
Gimigliano
Francesca
F
Gimigliano
Raffaele
R
Gisonni
Pietro
P
Giordano
Antonio
A
Migliore
Alberto
A
Granata
Mauro
M
Tarantino
Umberto
U
Brandi
Maria Luisa
ML
Baggiani
Angelo
A
Distante
Alessandro
A
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D012189:Retrospective Studies