Outcomes in young South Asian Canadians after acute myocardial infarction

South Asians have a high prevalence of ischemic heart disease and experience high incident acute myocardial infarction (AMI) rates at younger ages than their white counterparts. The aim of this study was to compare outcomes after AMI in a Canadian population of South Asian and white patients, aged 20 to 55 years.

Using hospital discharge abstract administrative data, we included patients with incident AMI, residing in British Columbia and the Calgary Health Region, between April 1, 1995 and March 31, 2002. The cohort was followed for up to 8 years (mean 4.2 years) to determine outcomes of mortality, recurrent AMI, and congestive heart failure (CHF) requiring hospitalization. South Asian ethnicity was determined using validated surname analysis. Baseline demographic characteristics and comorbidities were adjusted using Cox proportional hazard models.

Of 7135 young patients with AMI, 487 were of South Asian ancestry. Compared with white patients, South Asian patients were more likely to have diabetes (25% vs. 12%) and hypertension (24% vs. 20%). After adjustment for sociodemographic and comorbidity variables, there were no significant differences in rates of 30-day mortality (risk adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38-2.10), long-term mortality (aHR 0.81; 95% CI, 0.53-1.26), recurrent AMI (aHR 1.07; 95% CI, 0.89-1.29), or CHF (aHR 0.90; 95% CI, 0.51-1.59) between the 2 groups.

Despite the recognition of increased cardiovascular mortality among young South Asian patients, our Canadian sample demonstrated similar rates of fatal and nonfatal outcomes among young South Asian and white patients with AMI.