Primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction in the elderly aged ≥75 years

We aimed to see whether primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) benefits for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the aged could be validated.

Primary PCI benefits in elderly patients with STEMI remain uncertain.

We reviewed 947 consecutive patients treated with primary PCI for STEMI: 331 were aged ≥75 years (older) and 616 <75 years (younger).

The older group had higher percentage of renal insufficiency (7.9% vs. 3.1%, P = 0.0010), prior stroke (9.4% vs. 3.9%, P = 0.0006), 30-day mortality rate (7.6% vs. 3.9%, P = 0.015), and cardiac mortality rate (6.6% vs. 3.7%, P = 0.045). Successful reperfusion rates were similarly high in both groups (90.0% and 92.7%, P = 0.16), despite the higher proportion of patients with door-to-balloon time >90 min (15% vs. 8.4%, P = 0.0016) in older patients. Successful compared with unsuccessful PCI significantly decreased 30-day mortality rates in the older group (6.0% vs. 21%, P = 0.0018) and in the younger group (2.8% vs. 18%, P < 0.0001). When reperfusion was successful, cardiac mortality rate in older patients was not significantly greater than in younger patients (5.4% vs. 2.8%, P = 0.057). By multivariate analysis, unsuccessful reperfusion independently predicted 30-day mortality (odds ratio, 4.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.79-9.12; P = 0.0008), whereas age ≥75 years (odds ratio, 1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.41-2.41; P = 0.99) and door-to-balloon time >90 min (odds ratio, 1.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.76-4.20; P = 0.19) did not.

Pre-existing comorbidities characterize older patients developing STEMI. Aggressive PCI in older patients improves prognosis, and short door-to-balloon time is an important parameter conditioning the prognosis.