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Patterns of recurrence and survival in AMI patients in Canada
L Gibbons1, C Poliquin, M Fair
1Bureau of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Ontario.
Objective:
To describe the patterns of recurrence and survival of patients following their first acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
Design:
A retrospective follow-up study based on the population of Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan from 1981-85.
Subjects:
The analyses were performed on patients aged 25 to 75 years (n = 2083) who had been admitted to hospital with their first AMI during 1981 from the provinces of Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
Main Results:
The rate of recurrence of AMI was 10% in men and 7% in women, regardless of age. Median time to recurrence was 13 to 15 months in men and seven months in women. After the first AMI, mortality rates were higher in women one week and one month after the initial infarction, reaching statistical significance (only in the 55- to 74-year-old age group)--P < 0.01 and P < 0.02, respectively. Five-year mortality rates were significantly higher in the older age groups (P < 0.01), but were similar in men and women.
Conclusions:
Reinfarction occurs more quickly in women, who also appear to be at a higher risk of death during the first month, and especially during the first week, postinfarction.