[Secondary prevention of myocardial infarction in the Basse-Normandie region]

The objectives of this study were to determine post-infarction drug therapy at discharge from hospital and at one year in the Basse Normandie region (France) and the management of risk factors, to compare them with the practice recommended by the French Society of Cardiology and other recent references. Patients whose medical expenses were exonerated by the Social Security for primary myocardial infarction without a history of angioplasty or of coronary bypass grafting between February and September 2002 were reviewed. The data was researched from the hospital, the patient, the attending physician and the data bases of the Social Security. Four hundred and fifteen patients were included. At discharge from hospital the percentages of prescriptions of recommended drugs were as follows: betablockers 85%, antithrombotics 99%, ACE inhibitors 75%, lipid lowering drugs 90%; the four drug families were associated in 63% of cases. There was no significant difference in prescription between hospital discharge and the twelfth months except with regards to ACE inhibitors (68%) and the association of the four drug groups (54%). The prevalence of smoking, hypertension, diabetes, overweight, obesity and dyslipidaemia were respectively 40, 39, 9, 44, 20 and 81% at the time of infarction. At one year, the prevalence of smoking had fallen significantly to 16%; only 10.3% of patients had uncontrolled hypertension and only 29% had not obtained the recommended therapeutic target for LDL-cholesterol. The authors conclude that this analysis shows an adequation of drug prescription to current recommendations and an improvement in risk factor management which should, however, be pursued.