Mortality trends in men and women with acute myocardial infarction in coronary care units in Israel. A comparison between 1981-1983 and 1992-1994. For the SPRINT and the Israeli Thrombolytic Survey Groups.

AIMS: To assess trends in the management and subsequent outcome in men and women in two cohorts of consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction hospitalized in coronary care units in Israel, in the pre-reperfusion and the reperfusion eras.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared trends in the in-hospital management, and 30-day and 1-year mortality in men and women in two cohorts of patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction in coronary care units in Israel, in the pre-reperfusion and the reperfusion eras. The first cohort of 5839 consecutive patients (4315 men, 74%) was from the Secondary Prevention Reinfarction Israeli Nifedipine Trial (SPRINT) registry of 1981-1983; the second cohort of 1940 patients (1429 males, 74%) derived from two prospective nationwide surveys conducted in all coronary care units in Israel in January/February 1992 and 1994. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with acute myocardial infarction in both periods were comparable. Patients in 1992-94 received aspirin, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, beta-blockers and nitrates more frequently than in 1981-83. Thrombolysis, coronary angiography, angioplasty and bypass grafting were not used in 1981-83, whereas in 1992-94 these procedures were used in 45%, 28%, 11% and 4% of men, respectively, and in 39%, 20%, 9% and 3% of women, respectively. The 30-day age-adjusted mortality declined, in men, from 17.0% in 1981-83 to 10.8% in 1992-94 (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio [OR]=0. 69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55 to 0.87), and the cumulative 1-year age-adjusted mortality declined from 24.6% to 16.9% (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]=0.70%; 95% CI 0.60 to 0.81). In women, the decline in mortality rates were of similar magnitude, from 24.0% to 15.1% (OR=0.70; 95% CI 0.52 to 0.94), and from 33.6% to 21.0% (HR=0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81), respectively. In both sexes, the decline in mortality was more marked in patients reperfused by thrombolysis and/or mechanical revascularization, but was also evident in non-reperfused patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite higher mortality in both periods in women compared to men, the prognosis of men and women with acute myocardial infarction improved considerably during the last decade, with a similar decline in 1-year mortality of approximately 30%. The implementation in daily practice of new therapeutic modalities proven to be effective in clinical trials after acute myocardial infarction, probably played a major role in this favourable outcome in both sexes.