[Myocardial infarct in diabetes mellitus patients. A long-term follow-up]

The acute phase and long-term evolution of 249 patients diagnosed as having acute myocardial infarction and admitted to our hospital during the period 1981 to 1983, were studied. They were classified in 2 groups: A (non-diabetic patients) and B (diabetic patients). Several variables were analysed in order to determine the differences between both groups. The most accentuated being: diabetic patients, female sex, old age, blood hypertension history, cardiac failure, re-extended infarction. The inter-hospital mortality was higher in group B, mainly as a result of cardiogenic shock and left cardiac failure. An out-patients follow-up of acute phase survivors was carried out, between 1 to 96 months, with mean follow-up of 46.7 month in group A and 38.4 in group B, at 8 years the actuarial rate being 77.3% and 55.9% respectively. We conclude that diabetic patients with myocardial infarction register a higher long- and short-time mortality.