Acute Myocardial Infarction in Patients with Paraplegia: Characteristics, Management, and Outcomes

Cardiovascular disease has become a leading cause of death for patients with paraplegia. Acute myocardial infarction in patients with paraplegia has not been described in the literature. This study investigates clinical features, management strategies, and outcomes of these patients.

Acute myocardial infarction in patients with or without paraplegia was identified in the New York State Inpatient Database between 2007 and 2013. Clinical comorbidities, management strategies and their associated outcomes were compared using propensity score-matching analysis.

Among 402,569 patients with acute myocardial infarction, 1400 had a concomitant diagnosis of paraplegia. Compared with those without, patients with paraplegia were younger, more likely to be black, and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, anemia, congestive heart failure, coagulopathy, and depression, but a lower prevalence of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, chronic lung disease, and renal failure. Patients with paraplegia were more likely to receive medical therapy without a diagnostic cardiac catheterization than those without (83.7% vs 64.5%, P < .001). Nine percent of patients with paraplegia received revascularization, which was significantly lower than that without paraplegia. In terms of the clinical outcome, patients with paraplegia had higher in-hospital mortality than those without (22.4% vs 16.8%, P < .001). Among the patients with paraplegia, the subcohort that received revascularization had lower in-hospital mortality (9.5% vs 22.0%, P < .01), had shorter length of stay (13.0 vs 16.9 days, P =.08), and higher hospital charges ($130,079 vs $92,125, P < .001) than those without revascularization. Furthermore, the paraplegic subcohort underwent coronary artery bypass grafting that was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (21.7% vs 1.7%, P < .001), longer length of stay (24.8 vs 14.2 days, P < .001), and higher hospital charges ($231,323 vs $144,449, P < .01) than subcohort that received percutaneous coronary intervention.

Acute myocardial infarction patients with concomitant paraplegia had distinct clinical characteristics and comorbidity profiles; were less likely to receive revascularization therapy; and had higher in-hospital mortality. Acute myocardial infarction patient with paraplegia who underwent revascularization were associated with better clinical outcomes, in particular, those who were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention had significantly lower in-hospital mortality than those treated with coronary artery bypass grafting.